Dark Side
by OceanicShadows
Summary: Sequel to "Trusted But Trapped". Things are finally falling back into place for the crew but Ezra is keeping a dark secret from everyone. Will Kanan be able to keep his promise about keeping his padawan safe? Who is the dark force user that has been plaguing Ezra's mind. Rated T for Lang. and Violence. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Padawan Hunt

**** Wasn't going to post this until after Christmas, but here it is anyway! This is the _Hopefully_ final sequel to Separation and Second Chances. Hope you enjoy!** ~Ocean**

 **Chapter 1: Padawan Hunt**

Ezra raced through the thick vegetation. The youth was on a mission that he was determined not to fail. 5 minutes was all he had to find cover.

Hera had taken all his restrictions off two weeks ago, after more than a month of getting to do nothing. His arm remained in a brace, but he almost had full range of motion as he ran as fast as he could. The padawan had grown bored of lectures and meditation; he, like his master had been at his age, was ready for action.

Ezra actually didn't mind the brace, he easily had it hidden under his clothing and unless the sleeves were pulled up, no one could tell he was recovering still.

The kid stopped and looked around, he was hardly out of breath despite his lack of exercise the previous month. His eyes glanced around; opening himself to the force before looking way up in the top of the tree where there was a thick hollowed out area. Unless you knew it was there, it couldn't really be seen through the branches.

" _Perfect. He'll never find me there!_ " He thought to himself as he started to climb, using the force to help him. The teenager tucked himself in the hollow after checking to make sure there had been nothing living inside. An alarm on his wrist beeped once to signal his five minutes was up. Now he had to wait. Ezra shut his eyes and concentrated on being invisible. The Hunt had begun.

* * *

Kanan and Hera were seated side by side on the ramp of the _Ghost_. Kanan was giving his student 5 minutes to hide and block his signature; something they had been working on for almost two months now. Tomorrow, they had an assignment for the alliance and he wanted to make sure that Ezra was mentally ready.

"Are you sure he's ready luv? It's barely been a week. I came back here to give him time to de-compress because it was quiet and peaceful." Hera glanced over to the Jedi leader as she spoke. Her voice full of concern.

"The kid is fine." The Jedi reassured her as he looked at his timer. 4 minutes left.

"Kanan, he just found out that his parents died. How can you tell me he is fine?" The Twi-lek Captain looked at the man in disbelief at his quick confirmation.

"I don't know how he is, I just do. If he's not, he knows he can talk to me about it. Besides, his parents aren't really dead. I mean they are, but according to Jedi beliefs they just become part of the force again. That gave him a lot of comfort." Kanan had already had this conversation with Hera and was a little frustrated at her persistence, but he understood. Ezra needed to be fully ready, mentally and physically, for their next assignment.

"Will you at least talk to him? If I need to postpone this assignment a little longer, I would rather do that than risk the of everyone on this ship." Hera was starting to do that motherly concern thing, but this time she threw in the safety of the crew for good measure. Kanan sighed in defeat

"Okay, I'll talk to the kid when I find him." The Jedi said calmly as he stood up. 3 minutes.

"Are you sure you will? Zeb says he's gotten better. He said that last time you almost ran out of time. The only thing that was on your side was a creature decided to come out of hiding and startled Ezra." Hera smiled up at him as she remained seated.

Kanan pulled a device from his pocket and waved it around in a flashy manner. Hera recognized it immediately as a tracking device.

"You're cheating. I thought the purpose of this training exercise was to help Ezra learn to block people from being able to read his signature and keep others from entering his mind. That tracker has nothing to do with the force and his ability." The female's voice held amusement at the fact that her Jedi comrade had gone back to his old ways before she had met him; doing anything to win.

"No, I said the purpose of this exercise was for Ezra to practice his focus, concentration and vigilance to his surroundings. I bet I find him in less than five minutes." Kanan sounded a little proud and full of himself for his mastermind plan.

He told Ezra that if he hadn't found Ezra in 10 minutes, that he would treat him to food in the city a few miles from where they had set up camp. Kanan didn't plan on losing any credits on feeding a bottomless teenager.

"Well I'm rooting for Ezra. Cheating makes the game less fun." Hera stood up as she saw less than a minute remaining on his timer.

"The Empire doesn't care about what is fair. This will be a good lesson for the kid." Kanan's eyes went cold for a moment before looked down, the timer beeped and the Jedi took off on the hunt for his padawan. The man had to admit to himself that this was pretty fun.

Hera sighed as she boarded her ship. As much as she didn't like cheating, she knew the Jedi was right. The empire didn't care about playing fair.


	2. Chapter 2: Fair & Square

****I am sooooooo soooooo soooooooo sooooo sorry guys! My chapters got mixed up and messed up :(. Chapter 2 somehow ended up with chapter 1. I added more details and things in the actual chapter 2 so make sure you read that!**

 **Once again..sooooooooooo sorry!** ~Ocean**

 **Chapter 2: Fair & Square**

Kanan got several yards away from the ship before he shut his eyes, using the force to hunt his padawan. Hera had been correct that his student had gotten better at blocking himself. It took him a moment before he was pushed gently in a direction by the force. The Jedi complied and continued his run towards his student.

" _You've gotten better, but you're still not good enough Kid."_ Kanan hadn't had this much fun in a while. It felt good to just run without having something chasing him, threatening to kill him.

As the older human ran, he remembered last week when his student had come tearing through the ship calling his name, telling him he had seen his parents in a vision. Kanan knew at that moment, somehow, that he had lost his parents; he still held hope that he was wrong, but that was why Kanan went with him. More than anything, after his master died, Kanan wanted nothing more than for someone to be there for him. He didn't want Ezra to feel the same.

The force stopped Kanan next to the tree where his student was. While Ezra had gotten better hiding his signature; Kanan was a master at opening himself to the force and listening to it. His student better kept his signature well-hidden at a close range. It was then the Jedi chose then to pull out the tracker and put a trace on his student. It had been 6 minutes; he still had plenty of time to locate Ezra.

The green-eyed man walked around for one minute before he saw a pattern and realized what was going on.

" _Karabast!_ " He patted around his body before reaching behind on his shoulder and pulled Ezra's tracking beacon off gripping it tightly.

"Good game Kid! But I know you're near-by!" The man shouted to the teenager that he was unable to see at the moment. Kanan went back to using the force to try and locate his student, smiling. Ezra had covered a lot of ground in such a short amount of time. The kid was at least thinking ahead better.

Ezra heard the voice of his master, knowing he had found the tracker, but he stayed how he was and continued to concentrate on keeping his signature blocked.

Just before he had taken off to hide, Ezra shook hands with the older Jedi for sportsmanship patting his shoulder. Ezra knew he would be traced, found the tracker and replanted it on his master for fun; he almost put it on Hera but she said she didn't want to be part of any pranks under penalty of a long list of chores.

Soon time was up. The boy climbed out of his hiding hole looking down at his master. Ezra decided to be flashy with his entrance by jumping out of the tree in a front flip drawing his lightsaber and activating it.

Kanan heard the lightsaber and looked up seeing his student in the ' _átane'_ form with the graceful acrobatics _;_ as he landed Ezra assumed form VI. His padawan smiled, standing up straight and deactivated his weapon. Kanan still favored form III as that is how what his master did. But after the observation by the inquisitor months ago after Ezra had been captured, Kanan made sure to have Ezra and himself focus on all the forms. Ezra seemed to favor form IV, most likely due to the flashy movement involved.

"I hear there's a really good place downtown that stays open late." As cocky as his student was, Kanan had to applaud him.

"Good job Kid. You've earned that meal. I thought for sure the tracker was going to work." Kanan started to head back at him at a simple walk; the Jedi had a small smile on his face.

"You're holding the lightsaber better too. Your wrist must not be giving you as many problems. How is your arm?" Kanan decided was going to start with small simple answers before moving on to Hera's question.

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt; it is sore if I overuse it, but no more pain. My arm is still a little stiff, but the brace still isn't allowing for full motion yet. Hera said it may be another month of two before it comes off completely. If Ahsoka hadn't force healed it, I don't think I would have ever been able to use my arm again…" Ezra was very excited about winning against his master. Kanan felt this pulsating through the youngling.

"That's good. Yeah, Hera said that the bones was shattered. Are you ready for tomorrow? It's going to be difficult." Kanan edged the conversation closer to his goal cautiously.

In truth, he had tried to speak with Ezra multiple times about how he felt about his parents being gone. None of the attempts had gone well.

"Yeah, I'm actually excited I get to be part of the team again. I like pulling my own weight. I was really feeling like a burden." Ezra looked down slightly before picking his head up. He really was feeling bad that for several weeks the pilot wouldn't let him lift a finger to do anything around the _ghost_. Zeb had even started to pick on him some about it. It was all in fun, but the padawan had been stung by the words.

"Are you sure Ezra? Hera and I are both worried about you being able to concentrate and staying level headed with the fact that you just found out about your parents. I don't want you going into battle and losing yourself. That could be dangerous in multiple ways." The Jedi lowered his voice to a more serious tone as he asked.

Kanan felt a huge ping of emotion wash over the teenager. It actually stabbed a little in Kanan's heart, making him feel bad for Ezra.

Ezra remained silent, pondering over this question for a few moments before finally speaking up, plastering a smile on his face that Kanan knew was fake.

"I'm positive. I miss them, but I lost my parents when I was seven. It hurts knowing I'll really never see them again and I no longer can have that hope of reuniting with them, but I have you guys as a family now. Besides, if the Jedi order was still around, I most likely would have never gotten to meet my parents right? I mean, you never did…" The padawan spoke honestly but Kanan still felt his sadness and heard it in his voice.

"Can you promise me that if how you feel changes you will tell me immediately. I don't want to lose you and we can't put anyone on the ship in danger." Ezra knew Kanan was trying to console him, but he also understood the gravity of the situation he was in. If he was lying, he could get everyone hurt or killed.

"Promise. Now, should we head straight to get food, or go back to the ship first." Kanan shook his head mentally at how fast Ezra changed the conversation again. The Jedi would continue to allow this behavior until it started to cause problems.

"We need to go back to the ship first. Hera had a list of some things she needed from town. May as well get them, though I was hoping I wouldn't have to feed you." A small smile crossed Kanan's lips as he spoke. Ezra chuckled a bit.

"I won fair and square, even though you cheated." The younger human pointed a finger at Kanan who held his hands up in defense.

"Like I told Hera; The empire doesn't play fair. You need to be prepared for anything. You won and I will buy, but it doesn't mean I have to enjoy it. Just be easy on the pocket book kid. Maybe you are Jabba the Hutt, but I'm not." Ezra laughed at the joke his master made before nodding and lowering his hand.

"Fair enough… Race you!" Before Kanan could process what had happened he saw his student take off in a blur.

"Hey! Not fair!" Kanan took off after him. He had much more grace than Ezra with his many more years of harnessing the force, but with how tall he was, the cowboy Jedi had a lot more branches to dodge.

"The Empire doesn't play fair! Said so yourself!" Ezra could be heard laughing as he ran ahead of the older human. Kanan smiled and tried to catch up.


	3. Chapter 3: Well-Kept Secrets

****Once again. I'm soo sorry about the whole chapter mess up…. I'm posting this chapter in apology for it happening. Please forgive me! ** ~Ocean**

 **Chapter 3: Well Kept Secrets**

Ezra and Kanan walked to the small city just a few miles from where they had parked and hidden the _Ghost_. There were a few Stormtroopers hanging out in the city, but nothing to be on high alert about. Kanan stayed open to the force so he could detect any disturbances.

They finally arrived at the eatery and looked over the menu. Ezra was having a grand time naming out the most expensive entrees. The Jedi was very surprised when his student actually just ordered something small and simple.

"You do know that the deal was you could have anything right?" His master said cocked an eyebrow at Ezra's choice, secretly relieved as their menus were taken up. Kanan looked at his student watching him for a bit as he played with his utensils.

"Alright Kid, What's up? I expected you to gloat a lot more about winning, and now you're not even reaping the winning benefits. Something is bothering you." The older human sat back crossing his arms as he always did keeping soft eyes on the boy.

"I had a nightmare last night so I'm just a little tired. I didn't get much sleep." Ezra elaborated a little more with a yawn that Kanan could tell was fake.

"Alright, so what was this nightmare about. We need you to be fresh for tomorrow's assignment. You're the only one going in on the inside. Don't make me do a mind trick to get it out of you because I will." Honestly, Kanan was ready to say screw the mission. Something was bothering Ezra and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

The youth flinched a little before setting more into his seat.

"Well, it was about the mission tomorrow…" Ezra hesitated and was fixing to continue when a fight broke out in the bar section of the eatery. A Stormtrooper had purposely pissed off one of the alien guests and they were in a verbal fight. Ezra grabbed for his lightsaber, but Kanan reached over and grabbed his hand.

"No, we're not part of that fight and don't want to be." His student nodded silently and relaxed again watching out of the corner of his eye. He hated how the Empire bullied everyone because they felt more powerful.

"Now what were you saying about your dream?" Kanan tried to focus his student's attention back to their prior conversation but the food showed up and the conversation was temporarily forgotten.

The two ate in almost silence, which was very unusual for the normally loud mouthed teenager. Kanan paid, happy to have left over credits, and the two began the trek back.

"Ever since that dream a few nights ago, I've felt weird." Kanan looked over as Ezra broke the silence. The kid's brows were furrowed.

"What dream? And how have you felt weird? Ezra why didn't you come to me?" Kanan sounded slightly exasperated; he got in front of him and stopped so the padawan couldn't keep walking.

Ezra shrugged scuffing his foot once against the moist Earth of the forest floor.

"I figured that it was nothing. That I had it because I found out that my parents had just…Anyway, I feel sick because of it." Once again Ezra was trying to brush off his feelings and emotions about his parents. Kanan knew that he would have to intervene.

"Look Kid, I need you to not be so vague. I can't understand or help you unless you tell me things. Let's start with the dream. What was the dream about?" The Jedi remained neutral, his voice staying it's normal constant, but his mind was reeling. Kanan still had great concerns about whoever entered into his student's mind.

"It's probably nothing. Can we just go back home?" Ezra muttered with a little agitation. He side stepped to try and go around his master. Kanan was faster and blocked him.

"No, you don't get to run away and hide. Now, or I'm telling Hera to cancel that assignment. We can't take any risk." Kanan pushed some kind of button in the youth because Ezra had a mild explosion.

"Fine! It was a stupid dream about me going to the dark side and standing over your body with your lightsaber and a red lightsaber! I made you watched everyone else get killed by another force user before I swung your blade and…" As his finished the last part, the younger Jedi's voice tapered off to barely above a whisper. Kanan startled at the harshness of Ezra's voice but he felt a small twinge of fear. Ezra on the other hand felt sick again and made a mad dash to a near-by emptying the contents of his stomach.

Kanan waited patiently for him to finish feeling sorry for the kid. If a dream was affecting him badly enough that it made him physically sick, how vivid had it been?

"It must have been graphic for it to affect you this much." The Jedi was beginning to wonder if it was a vision instead of just a nightmare.

"I'm sorry Kanan, I just don't like to talk about my dreams." Ezra calmed his voice, thinking that he had angered his master. To top it off he felt extremely embarrassed now. He kept his head down.

"It's okay Ezra. You are positive though that this was a nightmare and not another vision?" The Jedi started at his student with great concern. If this was a vision, then all of them were in trouble and it would mean that Kanan had failed his life's mission.

"I'm positive. When I had the vision about my parents…it felt different and nothing made sense but at the same time everything did. The force told me what I needed to know to find my answer. With this nightmare, it just felt normal. Plus, the vision was constantly reoccurring when I got to another leg. I only had the dream once. It didn't feel real either." Ezra kept his head down as he spoke.

He never wanted to even mention this to Kanan, hoping it would go away. He had to admit though, he was feeling a little better now that it was off his chest. The older male felt this.

"Better?" Kanan simply asked as he continued to walk, letting Ezra catch up with him. The Jedi Knight was still concerned that this wasn't just a nightmare, but he let it go for now.

"A little. Sorry I didn't come to you after it happened. I thought I could deal with it on my own and not bother you about it." Ezra jogged slightly to catch up with his master before walking along side of him. Kanan had much longer strides because of the height difference so Ezra was having to walk a little faster.

"It's okay. Now how do you feel weird? Do you think he's inside your mind again?" Kanan jumped to the next question. He wanted all of this solved before they arrived back at the ship where a certain Twi-lek would want answers.

"No, it's a different feeling than how I felt. I just feel a little sick. I think it was from stress of trying to keep it bottled up; I'm feeling a lot better actually." The teen smiled slightly; he didn't really feel any better, but he didn't want to keep talking about this.

"Good, so then we're still on for tomorrow. If this all goes to plan, it will put a huge hindrance in the Empire." The two continued talking about tomorrow.

The plan was for Ezra to infiltrate one of the largest military bases that the Empire had control over. Sabine, Kanan and Zeb would plant detonators; Chopper and Hera would be on stand-by at different locations. Their youngest member was the key faction into this whole operation with his ability to fit into the ventilations, going to the main computer system while a distraction occurred and implant a virus into the data system.

About an hour later, the two arrived back at the _Ghost_. It was getting late the suns having already set and Ezra was exhausted.

"Get some sleep, we leave first thing in the morning. Debriefing in the morning." Kanan said as he heading for the common room knowing Hera would be there to discuss plans for tomorrow.

"Alright Kanan. See you in the morning." Ezra opened his door and disappeared behind it.

What Ezra didn't tell his master was that the nightmare had been reoccurring almost every night; it occurred anytime he fell asleep. The teenager still didn't feel that it was a vision and he didn't want to sound like a little kid about it. He just kept Kanan blocked from knowing about what was really going on.

Ezra climbed his ladder and curled up on his bed, making sure not to wake up Zeb. The young Jedi shut his eyes and went to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4: Unwelcomed Return

**Chapter 4: Unwelcomed Return**

 _Ezra was staring into the darkness of a veiled dark user. The youth couldn't make out a face. The two were alone in an open hanger on an Imperial base; alarms were going off, but they stared at one another. The secret user had his red light saber out, pointed at the young teenager. He moved his blade from Ezra to point down a hall. Kanan came around the corner taking his own saber out and switching it on._

" _Ezra! NO!" Kanan shouted as he ran for the enemy, sword raised._

 _Ezra watched him getting closer before he drew his lightsaber stepping in front of the hooded figure. As he activated it, his master saw that it was no longer his bright blue hue representing justice and protection. It was a deep hue of red._

 _The Jedi stopped, eyes widened in disbelief. Ezra was no longer a Jedi Padawan, the teenager had turned_

" _No…Ezra…" Kanan looked torn, he had been defeated before the battle had begun. He had failed his mission; what ever happened to him now, no longer mattered._

 _The Jedi Knight's head snapped up as he heard the arrival of the other crew members shouting for them, making for an escape ship. Ezra made his move. The teenager ran at his former master. The other force user turning and closing the distance between him and the others._

 _Ezra flipped over the Jedi knight landing gracefully in front of him sword raised. They fought in a valiant battle; Ezra never hesitated. Kanan had difficulties raising his sword against his friend. The Jedi stayed as defensive as he could._

 _Kanan tried to fight but he was too distracted. He didn't want to hurt Ezra, but he knew there was no other way. One by one he heard the screams of his fallen comrades. Ezra deeply grazed his thigh, using the force to shove him into a wall hard enough to almost knock out the older man. The former master looked up dazed as Ezra walked over to him. He called Kanan's dropped saber to him and activated it._

 _Hera was the last alive; the Twi-lek fought bravely but even she was no match; her dying scream echoing through the large bay. Ezra turned his head and saw blood splattered everywhere from the massacre that had just happened. A dark, twisted smile graced his lips. The former Jedi apprentice looked back at Kanan who was looking to his dead friends._

 _Ezra raised Kanan's light saber and swung._

* * *

Ezra bolted upright with a loud gasp, the teen was near hyperventilation, ignoring the fact that he had just slammed his head into the ceiling.

" _It was just a dream…I'm on the Ghost…_ it was all just a stupid dream. _"_ The youth tried to reassure himself as he attempted to gain composure. He wanted to go to Kanan, but he couldn't. The mission was today, and it was their chance to get ahead of the Empire.

The kid was trembling violently and felt weak all over. His stomach was twisted in big knots. Ezra got out of bed and had to use the wall as support temporarily until the aftermath of the dream slowly started to fade away. Even after several minutes, the feeling didn't go away like it always did. In fact, he was freezing. This was a new feeling.

Ezra's eyes widened in fear as he tried to take another step freezing in place as he heard an all too familiar evil voice in the back of his mind.

" _Why do you fear me youngling?"_ The voice echoed softly throughout his mind. Ezra tried to shake it out but it didn't leave. Ezra tried to block his mind but he realized that he couldn't block his mind and open it to Kanan. He needed to get to Kanan.

" _You were so powerful in your dream. I've been watching it over and over again. You loved having all that power. Nothing could stop you."_ The voice continued to coo at him. Ezra made it out the door. It was still too early and no one was awake. Just a few more steps.

"No…Go away…" Ezra tried to will the malicious voice away. He was very weak, he could hardly breath and the world started to spin in his mind and in the physical world. 10 feet…8 feet…. The boy was getting closer to safety.

" _But youngling, everyone on your ship is keeping you back. You could be great. Someone who's dead parents could be proud of. The Jedi can't train you properly, he will only be a hindrance. Tell me, where are you and I will come get you."_ The voice pushed against Ezra's mind sending shocks through his body as it attempted to forcefully retrieve information. The teenager thought that his mind was going to shatter. He tried call Kanan but he was unable to speak.

" _TELL ME!"_ With one hard push, Ezra was falling into darkness.

* * *

Kanan's eyes popped open as he felt a small disturbance. He focused and realized that it was coming from the young Jedi next door.

"Ezra!" The older human sprang up and darted to his door opening it just in time to see his student collapse and start to seize.

Kanan did what he could to keep his padawan safe from physical harm before he attempted to connect with Ezra mentally. He managed to with great difficult and started to try and calm Ezra down.

The Jedi felt the presence of darkness.

* * *

" _Kanan…help..." Ezra was fading; he was falling into a black abyss. Electrical shocks were coursing through his body but he couldn't wake up. He couldn't move._

 _The padawan shut his eyes as he started to give in. He felt himself falling faster and faster._

 _Suddenly, there was a streak of blue and Ezra felt warmth and comfort. The darkness began to disperse. He knew his master was there and everything would be safe. Ezra felt weak and stiff, but he could feel that Kanan was protecting him. Ezra let go, putting his life in his master's hands._

* * *

Ezra's body went limp as the seizure let up. Kanan was kneeling over him, opening his eyes, but keeping a connection between them. The man visually checked for physical damaged before gently lifting his student, cradling his upper body against his own. Kanan didn't want to shout, instead he grabbed his com link.

"Hera, you awake?" His voice held a sense of urgency but still remained calm. It was still early enough that the Twi-lek was probably still asleep. He waited a few moments but didn't receive a response so he gathered Ezra into his arms heading back into his cabin.

"I am now. What's going on?" The pilot's voice was groggy and unfocused as she spoke. She yawned once between sentences.

"The mission is being postponed." Kanan's responses were on auto. His focus was on Ezra as he lay the teen on his bottom bunk getting a cloth from the fresher, returning and wiping down Ezra's face with the cool cloth. The kid had a bit of blood trickling from his mouth.

"I didn't hear anything from Commander Sato last night; how did you find this out?" Because she was still waking up, Hera didn't put things together fast. She looked over seeing the time waking up a little more.

"What happened?" If it was just a postponed mission, Kanan would have let her sleep. The Jedi only woke her for emergencies. She got no response from him and started to get up.

"Kanan?" She tried again as she got dressed in record time. Her internal alarms were going off that something had happened. She was correct.

"Sorry, my hands were full...Ezra had another seizure. That _thing_ is in his head again." She noticed that Kanan sounded distracted; the female heard his annoyance as he enunciated the word 'thing'. She left her room and went to the medical bay, not seeing them. Hera practically jogged to Kanan's room and opened the door seeing Ezra laying on top of the covers with Kanan sitting next to him, gently blotting his face.

"How is he?" She spoke softly so as not to wake up the sleeping Jedi, walking over silently.

"He's fine…for now. I don't want him going out in the field in case it happens again." Kanan was sitting next to Ezra on the edge of his bed. Hera nodded in understanding and continued to watch them in great concern.

"Are you sure that whatever was inside his mind last time is back? He hasn't said anything. Maybe this is from the concussion. We can meet with the main ship and have some scans run." Hera believed Kanan, but wanted to make sure that this wasn't from hitting his head in the mine shaft.

"I'm positive. It was the same feeling; it was weaker than last time, but definitely the same. We can run the tests, but I think even Ahsoka will agree with me." Kanan could feel Hera watching him, but he didn't take his eyes of the boy.

"What are we going to do about it?" Hera asked quietly, looking at the unconscious teenager again.

"I'll think of something." Kanan's concern was growing the more he thought about the situation. Hera remained with him for a while for comfort before she got up and left to go start on morning chores and make coffee. She also needed to tell command that they would be aborting the assignment for now.

The Jedi didn't move, waiting for his student to wake up. He had made up his mind. They were going to have to find the user and put a stop to this before it killed his student one way or another.


	5. Chapter 5: The Plans

**Chapter 5: The Plans**

It took most of the day for Ezra to wake up enough to be cognitive. Even still, he remained sluggish, his body not handling well under the stress he underwent. He was mentally exhausted as well. Kanan stayed right next to him, giving him a little space, but being there to make sure he didn't fall.

"I'm fine Kanan. You don't have to be so close." Ezra glared slightly.

He hated being treated like a child. Zeb had already seen, and made fun of his clumsiness, making a snide comment about having to abort the mission, not understanding the gravity of the situation until he earned a hard earned glare from both the Twi-lek and Jedi.

"Sorry Kid, not buying it. You told me you were fine yesterday, come to find out that the nightmare has been reoccurring." Even still, Kanan backed off a little more, allowing about 6 feet between them so his student could have a little more independence.

The two entered the open room; the Jedi went over to start a fresh pot of coffee and get some food for the teenager who hadn't eaten all day. Kanan was keeping a close mental watch on Ezra the whole time ready to intervene if needed.

Kanan had told his student that he needed to eat, bringing him into the commons. Just as Ezra sat down, an all too familiar gruff voice came from the hallway.

"Hey Kid…I was looking fer you. I wanted to talk." Zeb came into the commons. The Lesat had one hand on the back of his head and looked really apologetic.

"Go away." Ezra huffed as he slouched resting his head, on his arms, on the table.

He felt miserable about what had happened and was angry with himself. He, Ezra Bridger, single-handedly ruined one of their best chances yet to thwart the Empire. A silent voice in the back of his head kept consistently pointing this out. The teenager was positive that everyone was disappointed in him. He wanted to crawl under a rock and die at this current moment.

The older male in the room didn't leave like Ezra had told him. Instead he moved closer to the youngest crew member. Ezra waited for the teasing to continue to commence.

"Hera told me what happened and I uh wanted to apologize. I didn't know you had another...you know…episode..." Zeb's voice was gruff but it held sympathy for his little buddy.

Zeb remembered when he had seen Ezra seize up the first time. He would never admit it, but it really scared him. The fearless honor guard was terrified that the kid was dying.

Ezra sighed feeling and hearing the sincerity in his roommate's voice. Normally he would just have bantered back with Zeb. The kid just felt off and depressed, even the apology didn't make him feel any better.

"It's okay." Ezra said finally in the silence. There was no reason to stay mad at Zeb, he had meant no harm. Somehow the teen felt that it was his fault Zeb teased him to begin with.

The kid sat up as his master placed some food in front of him. Ezra looked at the food and his stomach started to churn. He looked away from the food pushing it away, starting to get up.

"I'm not hungry…I'm going to go take a shower." Kanan watched him leave, deciding to give him a few minutes alone.

"He gonna be okay Kanan? He's really beatin' himself up over this ain't he?" The honor guard turn towards the Jedi who nodded.

"The assignment was just postponed until we can get things figured out. I can't make him understand that he didn't ruin the plans, we just put them on hold for everyone's safety. I'm really starting to wonder if he's being affected how I was. Since he was conscious he's been like this and it only seems like it's getting worse." Kanan sounded tired. The older human poured himself a cup and sipped on it before popping a small piece of fruit in his mouth.

Ezra walked down the hall. His mouth hurt and his stomach was pissed. He hadn't actually been able to keep food down the last few days. Kanan had spoken with him about what he planned to do and he didn't like how it sounded. Ezra even told him it sounded like a suicide mission. Ezra shut his eyes as he entered his room.

Memories of chasing after just the apprentice of this dark user and almost dying kept flashing through his mind. He knew that hunting down the master would be worse.

Unlike last time, Kanan had a very easy time keeping an open connection with the padawan. Last time, Kanan had been on the brink of death, now he was far from it with his guard all the way up.

Ezra had to admit that he felt more at ease with the gentle and soothing presence of his master. He was being protected and right now that's all he wanted. He felt sheepish that Kanan was protecting him and not relaxing though.

Hera came over the intercom. Ezra looked up at the bodiless voice.

"Alright guys, we're leaving this planet and heading to meet up with the main ship. We'll arrive in two hours if everything goes smoothly." The ship's engines fired up as she finished.

Soon the ship was taking off and heading out of the atmosphere into space; from there she kicked into hyperspace.

Ezra continued down to the fresher, undressing and stepping into the hot shower. Everything seemed to be hitting him at once. His parents, the mission "failed", letting down the other crew members. The kid was failing to realize that all of his currently emotional state could be blamed on a certain malicious voice that had decided to return.

Kanan came into the cockpit and sat down, watching the bright starts shoot past them as they continued in hyperspace.

"Where's Ezra?" The pilot looked over at Kanan, who looked really stressed and tired from keeping a mental tag on his student.

"He locked himself into the bathroom. I'm giving him some space, but keeping a connection so nothing will happen that I don't know of. His emotional state is coming in waves right now. He's really beating himself up. What did Commander Sato say?" The Jedi leaned back in his chair getting comfortable.

Kanan didn't like that they were leaving just to meet up and get a brain scan done on his student, but Hera had insisted, promising him that it wouldn't take too long and that everything would be okay.

"The commander granted us permission to do the scan…he was concerned about the safety of all of us. He is worried that whoever it is, will use Ezra to find not just this ship, but the whole fleet." Hera looked down and sighed.

Kanan glanced over to her without turning his head. He knew there was going to be a continuation and that he wasn't going to like it.

"He said that we can come to do a scan to make sure that this isn't just from the concussion. But afterwards, Ezra has to leave. Just until we get something figured out and we know he isn't going to go dark on us or something. We can go with him, but if we do… then they will drop contact with us so we won't know any locations." Hera spoke quietly knowing that this would most likely upset her friend.

"What happened to everyone having everyone's back Hera? Ezra isn't a threat right now and you know it. I can keep that from happening and he's strong in the force too. You should have stood up for him. Or better yet, you should have just not told them anything. I didn't even want to do this stupid scan; I know what caused the seizure, I don't need a medical droid probing my student because he can't find anything wrong. You know, this is why I didn't want to be part of a larger group. We were just fine until we started all these stupid protocols. If that's how they want to do this, we'll just leave, take care of Ezra and then if they want us back we can come back. Who needs them? We can protect the kid on our own." Kanan raised his voice at the Twi-lek.

He sensed the pilot shift uncomfortably in her seat before she continued softly.

"I'm staying with Commander Sato…." The female avoided eye contact feeling his stare on her. No words were necessary from him.

"Kanan, you know I can't just leave the fleet anytime I feel like it now, I'm the squadron leader. I have to stay with them…" Hera flinched a little when Kanan got up without another word storming out of the cockpit. For what seemed like the hundredth time today, she sighed.

Ezra had already emerged from the shower when this happened. He had heard the whole thing, ducking into the shadows as his master stormed past disappearing into his cabin.

" _We're having to split up because of me? Great, just something else I've messed up."_ Ezra looked down before he turned and left his hiding place in the shadows.

The Jedi paced around his room trying to think of some plan. He knew it was in the best interest of the main fleet to not know where they were. But Kanan felt that they were taking it to the far extreme. And why wasn't Hera siding with him. She's the one that hated to separate everyone, now she was staying with the fleet?

" _Why did I even recommend her for that position?_ " Kanan shook the negativity of his thoughts. He had recommended her because she was one of the best pilots out there; she deserved the promotion.

That's fine, he could protect Ezra without them just like his master protected him when he was a teenager.

"I wish you could tell me what to do Master…I have so many questions and need so much guidance."

Kanan sat down at his table and began to plan a course of action. They would leave as soon as they arrived. Kanan planned to not do the scan on Ezra.

The Jedi felt a small pang of déjà vu. He didn't want to separate him and Ezra from the others ever again. But now it was not really an option. It was different this time; this time his head was clear. When they landed, he would tell Hera his plan, and apologize for being so cold towards her.

The young teen went to the cargo hold and sat on a crate thinking to himself.

" _If I'm a danger to everyone. That means Kanan too…The only way to protect everyone is to leave the ship. Everyone is getting hurt or dying because of me. My parents heard my broadcast and because of that they staged an escape and got killed in the process. If I stay here, I'm going to hurt someone. I don't have another option_." If they didn't know where he was, then he couldn't hurt them.

" _Or disappoint them anymore…_ "

Ezra sat there for a while before Sabine came in asking how he was feeling. He muttered a simple 'fine' before getting up and leaving to his room. The Mandalorian looked after him confused.

They would be landing in about an hour to get to the main ship. Ezra would make his move then.

 ****Hey Guys, I had to split this chapter up into two separate ones because it was over 3000 words long lol. If you want me to post the next part (chapter 6), let me have five reviews in the next 5 hours :) Hope you enjoyed it!** ~Ocean**


	6. Chapter 6: Hope Lost

**** Hehe, got 6 reviews in 4 hours so here ya go. I work til close tomorrow so may not being able to post a new chapter. We'll see how tired I am! Enjoy and Goodnight guys!** ~Ocean**

 **Chapter 6: Hope Lost**

The teen packed up the few belongings he had, placing them in his backpack. It actually wasn't anything besides the Stormtrooper helmet that Sabine custom painted for him.

He wouldn't be returning, not if he was going to get everyone he cared about hurt or killed. Besides, they were doing fine before he came around. The crew didn't need him. He would just continue to disappoint them.

As he continued to pack in silence, the negative thoughts continued to pool throughout his mind. The padawan made sure to keep a small blockade up so that his master wouldn't catch on to anything.

Ezra carefully made his bed so Hera wouldn't have to. He smiled bitterly; Hera was always getting onto him and Zeb about not making their beds and the mess of their room. Remembering this, the teenager picked up the room and straightened it a bit as a small parting gift for the pilot.

" _Hera will be glad to not have a stupid messy teenager messing up her ship anymore…_ and _Zeb ...well…he will be happy that he doesn't have to share a room anymore."_

All the times Zeb had yelled at him, threatened him and teased him would soon just be a fading memory to the both of them.

He stared at the mural that Sabine had painted on the wall to immortalize Chopper's prank when he had first joined the crew. Eventually, Hera would probably have Zeb scrub it off so that there was no trace of him ever being there.

" _Sabine never even cared about me. I was just another co-worker to her. Someone that did assignments. She probably won't even miss me being gone."_

Ezra hesitated a moment before he sighed and too his pack off, putting it in the trash receptacle. There wasn't even a point to keeping the helmet. It would just be another reminder of how worthless he had been to the crew.

Finally, on his pillow, he placed a note and Kanan's holocron. The teenager unclipped the metal piece attached to his belt and ran his hands over his lightsaber activating it and gently swinging it a bit hearing the sound the blade made as it cut through the air. Ezra switched it off and put it next to the holocron.

There was no point in keeping it; it would only be a constant reminder of the hope he once had for himself. Besides, Kanan was really good at being able to use both the sword and the blaster at the same time. Now he would have two blades to fight the Empire.

" _Kanan is probably going to be the happiest to find me gone. Ever since I came along he's had to change plans. He's constantly having to correct me because I'm constantly failing and he has to take time to explain things to me. I'm probably the biggest let down in his life…"_

By the time he was finished, Ezra was ready to strike himself down with a lightsaber. He had firmly implanted the ideas in his head that he was worthless and that him leaving was the best for everyone. Had he not had the invisible influence, he would have never gone into such a depression so fast.

The dark force user that had forcefully gained entrance into Ezra's mind fed off the youth's sadness over losing his parents. This caused Ezra to be weakened enough to fuel the darkness in the boy.

* * *

When he felt the ship enter the new atmosphere, Ezra went back to the cargo hold. The teenager knew he would have to be quick. He would have to block out Kanan, get off the ship and find a place to hide.

If Kanan caught him, the man would probably feel obligated to tell him to stay and explain that they all needed him, which Ezra did not believe to be true. Ezra didn't want to make him feel forced to keep the padawan around.

The planet was another forest planet so he wouldn't have any trouble hiding; Kanan had him practice their game of hide and seek multiple times. From there, he would simply catch a shuttle somewhere. Once he was far away from the _Ghost_ and its crew, he wouldn't cause them anymore problems. But he didn't know where he would go.

The teenager sat as he waited for his moment. His parents crossed his mind. How disappointed would they be to find out that their son had caused so many problems to the very people trying to take out the Empire.

" _If they knew how much of a screw up I really am, they would hate me…"_

Ezra wanted to cry as all his emotions threated to spill over. He pushed them all down shutting his eyes. He was an outcast now, no one wanted him; he couldn't afford to show any weakness.

* * *

Kanan felt the sadness of his student. He could tell Ezra was trying to hide it, but all the emotions of his student were very strong and had been. He continued to let the youth think that he was blocking Kanan, because he didn't want Ezra to actually block him.

He knew this would need to be fixed quickly before it had any more of a negative impact on his padawan. Strangely enough, Kanan felt that his student's emotions were somehow affecting his own emotional state of mind. Surely Ezra wasn't strong enough to do that, was he?

The Jedi had gone to meditate, to balance his emotions and clear his mind after he stormed off on Hera. Kanan had not meant for it to be so brash, but he didn't want to say or do something stupid. His mind was reeling of the fight he had with Hera months ago that had caused a domino effect on everyone. He vowed to never let that happen again and it almost just did. He walked out to cool off so that he could talk things over with the pilot when he was under better control. Kanan had learned his lesson.

Finally, he got up. The older human packed up some things and planned on leaving as soon as they touched down. The Jedi went to get his student, who had already moved out of his room, planning to speak with Hera afterwards about his plan. This plan was temporary until he found a solution and help Ezra.

Ezra still failed to realize that just like they had done to Kanan, the force user was using his emotions to control his actions. He toyed with the boy's feelings, manipulating them into believing that if he stayed, he would hurt or kill them. Ezra already believed that the _Ghost_ crew no longer wanted him and even went as far as to think that they downright hated him.

The dark one had struck his prize and was slowly moving in for the kill.

* * *

The young Jedi felt the craft land and he opened the ramp quickly, cutting all ties with his master before running out. Ezra looked at his choices; he could hide in the city where he may be found, or he could go into the forest that spanned hundreds of miles.

Soon the decision was made and he took off, disappearing into the dark forest as quickly as he could.

At the same time Ezra took off, Kanan opened the door to Ezra's shared room, eyes immediately falling on light reflecting off his holocron and his padawan's lightsaber, both laying on the perfectly made bunk.

"No." He repeated over and over again, each time getting louder. He turned and ran out of the room.

"Hera, put the ship on lock down!" He hoped that his student was still on the ship and hadn't had a chance to get off. He tried to find Ezra's signature, unable to.

"Karabast!"

"It's already opened. I think Chopper opened it as soon as we landed." Hera emerged from the cockpit seeing the look of horror in his face as Kanan disappeared down the ladder to the hold.

"Kanan?" She followed, her chest starting to tighten knowing something was wrong.

Chopper was in the hold and beeped at them, clearing his innocence saying that he didn't open the ramp, that Ezra did.

"Karabast! He left. The kid packed up and left. Chopper why did you let him!? He must have overheard us talking earlier. I thought I had sensed him near-by…" Kanan's patience was gone. Ezra had run away because he thought he was going to hurt everyone.

"Ezra probably thought we were just going to dump him off somewhere and abandon him. I should have kept a closer eye on the kid." Kanan growled softly in frustration at the situation.

Hera felt awful. She was regretting her choice at telling Commander Sato. To add insult to injury Kanan added.

"I hope you're happy Hera. Now we don't have to worry about the kid hurting the fleet. We just have to worry about finding his body; or someone turning him to the dark side." His words were harsh and very icy. He stopped a rubbed his eyes with one hand after shutting them taking a deep breath to balance his mind. Kanan regretted his words as he felt the sadness from Hera.

The Twi-lek looked at him, his words stung, but they were all true. Now Ezra's life was in danger. Hera had just wanted to help. The older female didn't want it to turn out like this.

"I'm sorry Hera. I shouldn't have lost my patience just now or earlier; you did what you thought was in the best interest of everyone. I'm going to go out and try to look for him before the kid gets himself hurt again or has another seizure." His voice still held great worry, but it was much softer as he gained full control of his emotions again. He found it much easier as his student created distance between them.

The last thing Kanan wanted was for another fight to break out over something stupid.

"It's alright, there's a lot going on. Be careful out there; I expect you to return with Ezra, both in one piece. I'm going to fill in Commander Sato, and then we'll go check in town." Hera gave him a quick comforting hug before letting him go.

Kanan left the ship and ran into the forest, without another word, to look for his student. He felt a faint signature and took his chance, following it.

It was already dark out on the planet but he could see just fine. He would pretend that this was just another training practice with the same child that he was currently worried about. This time however, it wasn't practice, it was real and it was serious.

Kanan felt the dangers of this forest. There were creatures that hunted at night. Ezra had no weapon on him besides his sling-shot, and depending on the beast, it would do little to expel them.

" _I have to find the kid before something or someone else does."_


	7. Chapter 7: 100 Klicks

**Chapter 7: 100 Klicks**

Unlike training, Ezra was running with no real goal in mind except to get as far as he could from the memories of the last several months.

The teenager was scared that if he used the force, Kanan would find him and he would be risking the safety of everyone.

" _No..I can never use the force again._ " He thought to himself as he continued through the dense forest.

Branches slapped past him, he didn't try and dodge them, except for the ones that would cause major damage.

He wasn't wanted. He was going to hurt everyone. His family was disappointed in him. Every single negative thought, fear, and sad memory kept slamming into his mind dragging the teen lower and lower into depression and closer to the goal of the dark user.

" _Do you see now young one. I tried to tell you. They think you are some kind of monster. They wanted you gone. You don't see them looking for you…Hera is actually going to stay with her new family. They were going to abandon you."_ The voice actually sounded very soothing, but Ezra wasn't in the mood to listen to anyone right now.

"Go away! This is all because of you!" Ezra shouted at the nothingness as he ran.

" _How is it because of me? I've only been trying to talk to you. In fact, I will leave your mind if you promise to come see me. That is all, just a harmless face to face chat."_ Ezra stopped, he was out of breath this time.

"Wait…So if I come see you, you promise that you will leave my mind and never come back? Why do I keep having seizures? Will those stop too?" Had anyone been watching, they would have thought the teenager was crazy because he was staring up at the branches talking to no one.

" _I promise young one. The seizures are merely me being forced out. If I'm not forced, there will be no seizure and no pain."_ The voice crooned softly. Because of his state of mind, Ezra was finding it calming and didn't bother to think. Had he, Ezra would have immediately known he was lying.

"How can I trust you? You tried to kill me and Kanan." The teen was on his own now, no one was going to look after him so he needed to take all precautions.

" _That was not me young Jedi. That was my apprentice going against my wishes. You and your master were not to be harmed. He disobeyed; You saw the fate that happened to him. He was supposed to be there to talk, nothing more."_ Ezra nodded slightly as he continued.

"Alright…So where can I find you? And I…. I don't have any kind of transportation." The youth had stopped looking up and was just looking down at the ground, waiting for his instructions.

He started trying to think on how he could locate a ship and get to his new destination.

" _I am on this planet, 100 klicks to the South, at an abandoned temple. I will be waiting for your arrival. Oh and young one? Come alone. I don't want to deal with the people who have hurt you. It would not turn out very pretty I'm afraid."_ The voice faded out as did his presence.

"No problem with that…They're probably not even looking for me…" Ezra looked up to get his bearings.

" _South…"_ Ezra looked around, he would have no way of knowing south unless…

The young Jedi, gone rogue, shut his eyes and ever so slightly opened himself to the force. He "manipulated" it a little as it willed him to return to the ship.

" _The force is wrong. I can't go back…The ship is not safe. Besides, tThey don't want me…"_ He thought to himself as he continued to feel around. Finally, he had his answer and Ezra headed off in the direction he needed.

* * *

Kanan ran for what seemed like an hour. Just as he stopped to catch his breath, he heard a speeder bike coming towards him. He turned and recognized Sabine immediately because of her helmet.

"Hera filled us in. We can cover more ground with the bike. Any luck finding the kid?" Her voice was slightly muffled because of the helmet that she wore, but she could be understood perfectly. Kanan shook his head.

"I felt his presence for a second and then it disappeared again. I think he's heading southbound though. I'll drop you back off at the ship and try that way." Kanan got on behind her as they headed back.

"Try again. Hera's already informed Commander Sato that she is remaining with you to search for Ezra and find some kind of cure for him. You know Kanan, she feels horrible and is blaming herself, so maybe be a little nicer to her when you see her next." Sabine dodged trees and shrubs easily as they sped through.

"Then I need to at least head back and get Ezra's lightsaber. He didn't take it with him. I hope that kid hasn't gotten himself in trouble." He was half yelling over the noise of the bike. Sabine nodded, arriving at the ship moments later.

"Yeah, trouble does seem to follow the kid." She said dryly as she took her helmet off.

Hera had left with Zeb to check in the city as a just in case. Chopper greeted them explaining this tasering Kanan for good measure.

Sabine radioed Hera.

"I picked up Spectre 1. He's grabbing some supplies and we're heading to a new location." The girl waited a few moments before she got her response.

"Alright Spectre 5. Spectre 4 and I are heading back now. We'll rendezvous and fly, it will be safer and quicker." Hera's voice was a little crackly from poor reception.

"Copy that Spectre 2. We'll be waiting." The Mando teen clipped the com back onto her belt before locating their leader and updating Kanan.

"We don't have time to wait around." The Jedi had clipped both sabers to his belt and was fixing to leave as Hera and Zeb pulled up.

"It will be easier to find him from the sky love." Kanan could hear the guilt in her voice. She wouldn't look at him.

The older human sighed and nodded.

"You're right, Thanks. Keep us as low to the trees as you can." They all clambered up to the cockpit and took off.

As one of the suns broke the horizon. The crew had yet to find their youngest member.

* * *

Ezra finally collapsed from exhaustion. Had he really been running all night?

The sun was starting to peek through the trees. The young Jedi saw that he had landed in a mossy area. He sat up shakily looking around before forcing himself up.

" _South…"_ He turned in a direction and started to walk. He had already covered a lot of ground. How the teen had been running all night was a surprise to even him. The forest had thinned out greatly and was almost a plain of tall grasses. He continued to walk, running when he had the energy.

With no one to talk to Ezra became lost in his thoughts and memories. He started to hate himself even more wondering why the others hadn't dumped him sooner.

"I just get in their way and cause trouble." He kicked a rock and sent it flying.

"If I would have known this person just wanted to talk I would have done this months ago…none of this wouldn't have happened and it would have saved Kanan a month of recovery…I wonder what they want to talk about anyway…" He continued walking. He hid under the cover of grass as he heard a ship fly-by overhead. It had made two rounds but the youth didn't bother to look up, he figured it was just an Imperial ship. His focus remained on the ground.

* * *

"I could have sworn I sensed something in that field…Thanks for the second fly-by Hera…" Kanan along with the other crew members were exhausted trying to find his student.

"Hey, according to this chart there is an old temple near-by." The Mandalorian had been checking maps and searching around the any possible locations of their missing member.

"Yes, it was turned into a "secret" Imperial landing base during the clone wars. It's probably abandoned and forgotten. Maybe that's where he's going. Let's try there Hera. Good job Sabine. "Kanan said as he stood up to go get more coffee.

"Alright love, but first I need to return and refuel. We're running low and if we have to make a quick escape we won't make it too far." Hera was doing better, but still felt bad. Kanan had apologized again, but his sole focus was on Ezra at the moment.

"How long is that going to take?" Kanan had stopped, turning around and watching her.

"Probably a few hours depending on the line at the bay…You…don't want to wait that long though…" She sighed. The Twi-lek didn't even have to ask.

"I'll drop you off to continue going that way. First sign of trouble and I'm sending Zeb in the _Phantom_ okay?"

"Right. I'll most likely be at the temple by the time you return." Kanan spoke as he left the cockpit heading for the ramp. Hera moved a little lower so Kanan could open the ramp and jump out. The pilot turned the ship around and headed for the city.

"Stay Safe Spectre 1. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Copy that Spectre 2." Kanan didn't watch her take off. He continued his trek to locate Ezra.


	8. Chapter 8: Trust The Force

**** May or may not update for a few days. If not, I apologize. Real life takes priority *sighs commenting about how evil adulting is*Hope you guys enjoy the chapter. :) Happy New Years if I don't respond!** ~Ocean**

 **Chapter 8: Trust the Force**

By nightfall, Ezra had finally arrived at the ruins of the old temple. The young Jedi had calmed down a little, not hating on himself as much. Being worn out from running had really done the trick.

He considered contacting the _Ghost_ and seeing about a pick up; but he didn't know how mad Kanan would be at him for running off like a child; and then he would still be in the same predicament as he currently was in. Something would still be in his mind.

The youth was done with voices in his head that weren't his own. He would do whatever it took to make a particular one go away, even if he had to meet alone with an unknown dark force user.

There was still just enough light that Ezra was able to explore a little. He was fascinated by all the etchings with ancient symbols even though he didn't understand them. He heard something growling from a dark entrance; instinctively he reached for his lightsaber.

"Karabast…what was I thinking?" He said to himself as he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He wasn't thinking. He was lucky that it was only a harmless, but scared creature.

" _Do I even want to go back? Kanan would be so mad at me for being such an idiot, he probably would abandon the idea of training me."_ Ezra sighed before he proceeded to continue his self-mission at hand.

Except, he didn't know where to begin looking for the person who beckoned him for a meeting. There were paths leading underground everywhere. The youth tried a few earning him a dead end in all cases. The force kept beckoning him, willing him to go back to his family. It was so strong that eventually Ezra couldn't ignore it and he reached for his communicator.

"Kanan always says to trust the force. Master Kenobi said the same thing on his holocron. Maybe I should actually listen to them for once." He inhaled a deep breath before turning on his link to his family.

"Spectre 6 to _Ghost_. Anyone out there? I know I've been an idiot, but yeah…if you still want me around can I get a pick up? I'm at this old ruin site really far south." Ezra waited with the mic held close to his face for a quick response. After a few moments he gave up and put his receiver back on his belt.

"Guess they don't care after all…." He looked around shivering slightly as a cool breeze blew through his clothing hitting his skin chilling every inch of him. He wrapped his arms around his small frame trying to warm up.

Ezra froze, that wasn't just the air; it was cool outside, but not cold enough to cause him to shiver.

"Who's there?" The padawan stiffened. Every inch of his body wanted him to run but he took a deep breath in, letting out and stabilizing himself how his master had taught him to do. He wasn't going to run.

"Welcome young one, to my humble abode." The chilling voice behind Ezra sent the hairs on the back of his neck straight up. Alarms flew through all corners of his mind. This person was trouble; he was in trouble.

The raven-haired male turned to face the direction the voice came from. About 30 feet away was a cloaked figure emitting a strong, but very evil force signature. Ezra took a step back hoping it would calm his nerves; it didn't.

"Don't be frightened Ezra Bridger. I am mainly harmless." The figure didn't move as he spoke. The malice was strong and the voice was deep.

"Somehow I don't believe that. What is your name anyway? and What did you want to talk to me about? I want to get this over with so I can go back to my own life thank-you. You did make a promise." Ezra's sarcastic nature came out. He knew that things would be worse if fear was shown to this guy. The youth wished that the voice was just in his head. In person, this guy in front of him was overwhelming.

"I said mainly…My name is South and I need _you_ young one. The Empire is looking for you; the dark lord wants you as an apprentice." He started as he began to move closer. The uneasiness was stirring in the young teenager, but still, Ezra snorted.

"South? That's a pretty stupid name. Is that why you live so far down south, _South_? And why me? I'm not that powerful." The anger in the being grew as the teen teased him.

"Ezra seems like a stupid name to me. You are not powerful yet, but you have great potential. If I kill you, I will be deemed stronger than you and I can become the apprentice to the Sith lord, eventually defeating him and taking his place. I did make a promise. I promised that I would leave your mind; I have kept up my part of the deal. Well almost all of it." South was about 10 feet from Ezra now and seemed on the verge of sanity.

"Either that or you would be seen as a weakling because you had to kill me when I was helpless and couldn't defend myself. I bet the Empire would love to employ you then." Ezra sarcastically commented. The youth was swirled in darkness as he struck a cord and enraged South.

The feeling of darkness was too great. Ezra's head was swarmed with all the negative thoughts that had been slowly leaving; his head began spinning as it hit him hard sending spikes of pain throughout his body.

"Oh come come my boy, I know you have greater power inside of you; that was nothing more than a tiny nudge. I have felt your power and seen it. Or can you only use the force when you're around your master? Does he have to give his child student permission?" South didn't move, remaining where he had been standing.

Ezra realized that he had been force pushed about 20 feet away. The boy was stunned and trying to get his bearings. Everything was spinning with no signs of stopping. He responded to the dark user with an incoherent groan of pain. South chuckled, enjoying the sound.

In a desperate plea, Ezra shut his eyes and fully opened himself to the force. Putting all his trust into it.

He felt the ground steady and he began to get up weakly. He felt the force around him, trying to guide him. Kanan always seemed to understand what it was telling him; why couldn't it come that easily to him? Ezra was still unsure about trusting it for some reason. Something was keeping him from wanting to harm the person in front of him, who had no qualms about causing great pain to others. The mention of being powerful called to Ezra, the dark side trying to take over.

Suddenly, the padawan felt a small ping in the force that brought him back. Ezra knew his master was close by now; he grew concerned, he didn't want Kanan at risk of being hurt, but he wanted to get out of this alive himself. Without any type of weapon, the battle wouldn't last too long.

* * *

"Spectre 6, this is _Ghost_. I heard you. I need your location. I repeat, Spectre 6, do you copy?" The pilot was given the response of static. Hera had been trying to reach Ezra after hearing him over the comm. She was still refueling and growing concerned.

"Ghost, this is Spectre 1. Something happened to Spectre 6. I haven't found him yet but I can feel it. The kid is in trouble." Kanan's voice crackled on the intercom. The Jedi had felt the push and the pain his student felt. The older human fortunately now had knowledge of exactly where Ezra was. He was still far, but running he would be there soon, hopefully soon enough.

"Spectre 1, we're still refueling. ETA at rendezvous is 1 hour. Do I need to send out Spectre 4 and 5?" Hera turned and looked at the two who were waiting for their orders. She didn't wait for Kanan; the pilot nodded. The two took off.

"Affirmative, I want a pick up at the old temple. Be quick, I don't know what is there, but it's nothing good. Spectre 1 out." Kanan put the link back on his belt and continued to run. Ezra was in danger, and had no way of defending himself.

" _I hope that kid hasn't gotten himself into too much trouble before I can get to him…"_


	9. Chapter 9: Gone Again

**Chapter 9: Gone Again**

Ezra leapt straight up, doing a back flip, landing on the remnants of a wall, just narrowly escaping a huge column. The padawan was growing tired, his mind riddled with negative thoughts and fear, his body wearing thin as the one-sided fight continued. He could feel the darkness threatening to overtake him, but he fought it unlike earlier.

"Our shuttle leaves soon boy. Either come willingly, or I will have to kill you now and I really don't want to do that." South had grown extremely impatient with Ezra's lack of cooperation in his master scheme.

He had thought that the young padawan in front of him had broken down enough to manipulate into going with him long enough for him to kill him in front of the Sith Lord. He was surprised at the resiliency of the young boy in front of him.

"Yeah, not on your life." Ezra shouted from his perch as he stood straight up.

The youth had opened himself to the force, using it as his sole guidance to keep him from getting killed. Where on Earth was Kanan? It had been 10 minutes, and his master was nowhere to be found. Surely Kanan really was coming, he had felt his signature right?

" _Maybe I was wrong and just thought I felt him?"_ The teen thought himself as he readied himself for another session of dodging.

"Maybe not on mine…" The dark user casually stated as he took out a hilt from his cloak. Ezra heard the all too familiar sound of activation and a deep red blade emerge from the metal in the older man's hand.

"But definitely on yours. Where's your master? I want him to witness your death." South finished in an almost sing-song voice. The older of the two, assumed an attack stance.

Ezra started to make quick calculations. Avoiding rocks and debris was one thing, if he was struck with a little one it would leave a bruise for the most part, but avoiding a fire hot nearly indestructible blade was going to be very difficult.

Just as he was fixing to make another jump. He heard the sound of another lightsaber, one with a familiar blue hue. Kanan ran at the dark user.

"I'm right here." His blade clashed with the deep red sending sparks flying. The Jedi jumped back and changed position before charging again. He would be damned if someone was going to hurt the kid while he was alive.

Ezra jumped down staying behind Kanan watching the battle. The two force users were very evenly matched, it would come down to a battle of stamina, or someone would have to shift the balance of light and dark. Ezra thought back to a time when he and his master did this.

* * *

Kanan and Ezra watched on the Osisis Station in the Regani sector. Their pilot was waiting, fixing to start a race with Galus Vez, the owner of the station, and the creator of the _Fool's Run_ course they were fixing to fly through. The older Jedi knew that Galus had never lost, but also that he wouldn't play fair if he began to lose.

The _Ghost_ wasn't in the greatest shape and they desperately needed the parts to fix it. Hera had agreed to race despite the odds and the Jedi who had attempted to stop her.

As the race began, Hera expertly dodged the debris making up the course, until the four-armed alien changed his tactics and caused a large space rock to explode right in front of Hera's Ship. The impacts caused the already damaged ship more damaged as panels caught on fire.

The pilot kept her cool, ordering Chopper to fix the stabilizers and try and do something to speed the ship up. Kanan had witnessed everything and knew that if they were going to win, get their parts, and their freedom, the Twi-lek would need help.

"Ezra, join with me. _Concentrate_. Use the force." The older human stated calmly as they watched out the viewing window.

The young Jedi in training looked to his master before nodding. The two of them shut their eyes, reaching out to the force, having it aid them by moving the floating debris in the path of the enraged Besalisk. Two of the rocks struck the wings of Vez' ship, causing the ship to lose momentum and veer off course.

The cocky station owner started to get back on course, seemingly un-phased.

"It doesn't matter…This race is all but won now!" He exclaimed as he neared the finish line. He managed to look out of his window just in time to see the freighter ship zoom past him, dodging asteroids, crossing the finish line.

"Winner – The _Ghost!_ " came over the intercoms announcing Hera as the winner.

Hera looked back to see Chopper coming up.

"Did you happen to go back and boost the power to the engines when I needed the stabilizers fixed?" She asked the droid with feigned irritation as she patted the droid in appreciation.

* * *

Ezra shut his eyes from his position behind his master and concentrated. There was plenty of debris around. He kept telling himself in concentration that he could do this. He wouldn't fail. A huge boulder started to levitate. The kid managed to put enough force into shoving it that it knocked the dark user off guard as he failed to dodge it disappearing under the rock.

Kanan looked back at his student in mild disbelief.

"Nice Kid. But we're still going to have a talk after this. What the hell did you think running off like that?" Kanan kept his guard up but sheathed his sword walking towards his student. Ezra looked down, he was still battling with his emotions and wasn't prepared to begin to talk about them.

"Well I uh…" The young teen began before a powerful surge of the force caused him to pause and Kanan to tense. Both Jedi turned to see the rock lift up effortlessly, along with everything else around surrounding the user who had risen back up.

"Enough is enough. I'm done playing with you stupid Jedi. That boy is coming with me. Now." With a wave of his hand, not only did the rocks dispel towards the two humans, but he also sent a huge force pulse towards the two.

Kanan had managed to dodge the rocks, but landed right as the wave hit, sending the older Jedi flying through the air, slamming into a rock wall with a sickening crack.

Ezra, who managed to somehow avoid everything looked in the direction his master went flying. There was no signature, his master was unmoving.

"Kanan?" The youth began as he took a step forward to aid his unconscious master. Before he could react, he was hit with something that sent him crashing to the ground, unmoving.

"Specter 1. We're about 5 minutes from your location. Be on stand by for pick up." Sabine chimed in on Kanan's belt as he slowly started to come to.

"hgn…" The older human sat up, his vision was fuzzy and unfocused but he saw a shuttle ship leaving the ground heading for space…

"Ezra….?" Kanan's eyes widened and he sprang up ignoring the splitting headache that came from the knock to the head. He looked around for his student not finding him, or sensing him.

"Karabast!" He growled. He grabbed his link just as he saw the _Phantom_ fly into the ruins, landing, the ramp opening up. Kanan grabbed his lightsaber and ran over, boarding the _Phantom_ and shutting the ramp allowing for take-off.

"Where's the Kid Kanan?" Zeb asked looking over Kanan. The Lesat could smell a little blood and eventually saw it on the back of the Jedi's head.

"He was nabbed. Get back to the _Ghost_. No telling where he's being taken. Sabine, I want you to get on the HoloNet and look for any information you can find about the Empire capturing him."

"On it." She moved so Kanan could take over piloting as she got in the back with Zeb and started to search the net.

He radioed in to Hera.

"Spectre 2, I need you to be ready to fly when we dock on the ship. We'll be there in 20 minutes." Hera recognized the tone of concern.

"Roger that Spectre 1." She stated in her normal voice of calm. There was no sense asking questions; she would get them in due time.

Kanan sped through the sky. He didn't bother with auto-pilot knowing he could fly faster without it engaged.

" _Who the hell is that and what does he want with Ezra?"_ He went through his thoughts, forcing himself to breath, and dump the ones that didn't matter with the current situation.

Kanan had always been well known to keep his cool in situations. Recently, his moods had shifted a bit due to some kind of disturbance, but now he was clear-minded fully. One thing crossed his mind, as Ezra had lifted the rock, Kanan had felt another disturbance. His student was fighting the dark side, but it was growing stronger in the teenager. Something needed to be done.


	10. Chapter 10: It Begins!

**Chapter 10: It Begins**

The green Twi-lek sighed as she entered space from the atmosphere below. She looked out at the endless stars in the black nothingness. Kanan was trying to locate his student through meditation and the force.

Hera wanted answers, but she knew they would come eventually. Kanan was always one that she had a hard time prying full answers out of. Even when they had first met, he did everything he could to try and keep his identity hidden no matter how sweet she was to him. It had always frustrated her.

Sabine walked in and plopped down in the co-pilot seat.

"I couldn't find anything. I don't think that that guy was part of the Empire; I would have found something somewhere." The female teen looked down at her failure. Hera saw this and gave a small but comforting smile and spoke softly.

"You did find that he hasn't been captured by the Empire. Now we just need to find him. Can you look into flight paths of all small vessels that left the planet in the last three hours? Maybe we can get some kind of lead from that."

The Twi-lek was very good at soothing and encouraging her team. She hand-selected all of them and because of that she was the mother figure and the glue of the crew.

"I didn't think of that. I'll go check it out. Zeb is making sure all diagnostics are done in case we run into a battle." The Mandalorian got up and left to continue her new task. Hera watched her go before turning back to the stars. Until a plan was formed there was little to do besides monitor for Imperials and wait for her Jedi leader.

She got up several minutes later and left the cockpit going to the commons room to get a cup of caf. She knew that their leader would find Ezra. In what condition, she didn't know. The Empire knew who he was and unlike the very first time they had met, they wouldn't be so easy on the kid.

" _If it's the Empire… Sabine found nothing linking the Empire to this…."_ Hera sipped on the caffeine. The older teenager reminded her of herself in some ways. Hera started her mission to destroy the Empire when she was just a teenager.

" _I hope you're alright Ezra. If something happened to you, I don't know what Kanan will do."_ She took another sip as she continued thinking, remembering back several months ago when they had rescued Kanan from certain death.

* * *

Everything had begun to calm down. Kanan was back and for the most part unscathed. Ezra was spending the night in the medical bay as a precaution due to his high fall.

Hera walked down the hall and stopped in front of a certain Jedi's cabin. Kanan had disappeared hours ago inside and hadn't made a noise. Even without being a force-sensitive sentient, she knew that he was deeply troubled. As the Twi-lek made to knock on the door, it opened.

" _Of course, he knew I was fixing to._ " She smiled as she entered.

The pilot had expected to see their leader on his meditation chair, but instead he was laying on his bed staring up at the bottom of the bunk above.

"Talk to me love. You're troubled." She cooed as she walked over and sat next to him. Almost instantly he sat up as if protecting himself, hiding his weakness. He was fixing to speak when she stopped him.

"Don't tell me it's nothing. Not with what you've been through." Hera knew him too well. He instinctively ran from his thoughts, even though he had reembraced his Jedi heritage again.

"I will heal from that and it will become a distant memory…Hera, when I thought the kid…Ezra…When I saw him fall and hit the catwalk and I couldn't sense him…" He paused as it flashed through his mind all over again. It earned him a rare shiver of pain, something that only Hera had gotten to see a few times. She leaned against him and wrapped her arms around him.

"He's more than just a student to you love. From what I've seen, Ezra is the one who pulled you back into the light and back on the right track to being who you were meant to be. I certainly didn't do that. You feel that if something were to happen to him, that light would be snuffed out and you would never be able to come back." Her words were soft and quiet, just so only they could hear despite both of them being alone.

He nodded slightly in agreeance.

"When I couldn't feel him…I felt…it was like the night my master sacrificed herself to save me. For a brief moment I thought I was alone again. I don't want to run anymore. I'm scared that if I lose him, I'll start running again, trying to find my purpose." The older Jedi took in a deep breath and exhaled heavily.

"Kanan, in all the years I've known you…you're done running love. You never have to run again, and you won't lose Ezra. I know that you will make sure of that. You love him like he was your own son." The gentle words and comforting reassurance from the Twi-lek was mending his mental wounds further. Soon he would be able to let them go just as he had been taught so long ago.

The Twi-lek smiled and continued with her sense of humor.

"Who knows, maybe he is yours. With all the romanticizing you did before I met you." She was rewarded with a small laugh and a smile from her Jedi partner. She knew he would be fine.

* * *

Kanan was in his usual meditative position reaching out with the force as far as he could for some sign that his student was alive. The Jedi had vowed that if they got his student back, Kanan would be more open with him and encourage the same. He feared…no he worried about the feeling of darkness that he had felt emitting from his student back at the ruins.

The Jedi felt the familiar calling from the force. Kanan opened himself for the answer it wanted to provide him. Kanan's eyes snapped open as they widened realizing where his student was heading.

Kanan left his room and turns right into the cockpit where Hera had just sat down.

"Set a course for Coruscant. That is where Ezra will be taken." Kanan's voice held determination, but the pilot knew that the last place Kanan ever wanted to go back to was his old home where he had grown up in the Jedi temple. For Ezra, Kanan would go anywhere he needed, even Mustafar.

"Why are they...?" Hera didn't need to finish the sentence. She was already on top of setting coordinates for the hyper drive.

"Because he's being taken to the Sith Lord. We have to stop that ship before they arrive. The last thing I want is for us to go right into the heart of the Empire." He turned to leave, but a wave almost as strong as the pulse wave he had felt no more than an hour before hit him sending him to his knees.

"Kanan!?" Hera was up and at his side within a second checking him over.

"I'm fine…" He stated through gritted teeth. The Jedi human began to get back up, using Hera and the wall for help.

"What's wrong love?" The Twi-lek guided him to Sabine's empty chair and had him sit looking him over with concern.

"Something happened to the kid. I can feel his pain. We have to get to him before something bad happens." Kanan took a few deep breaths.

Wave after wave was hitting him. Whatever the user was doing to his student was causing him great pain. It was almost as if he was being interrogated much like what had happened to himself. Unlike Kanan, Ezra had not had enough training and ran a high risk of breaking and either dying, or going to the dark side.

The Jedi sent out as many calming waves as he could, hoping that they would reach Ezra and give him some comfort until he could get to him.

" _Hold on Ezra…"_

* * *

Ezra started to come to. Immediately, the youth felt himself completely restrained. His eyes cracked open against the harsh light that was beating down on him. It took a few moments to adjust, less to realize that he was currently alone in a holding room.

" _Where am I?"_ The teen thought to himself as he looked around, mainly for a way to get out of this.

The door slid open.

"You're finally awake. We have to have you all ready to meet the Sith Lord Vader." South strode over casually looking over the equipment, making sure it was secure.

"I'll pass." Ezra narrowed his eyes at the human in front of him.

Without the cloak, it was easily seen what South's species was. He was Kanan's age if not a little older, jet black hair and deep green eyes.

"I'm sorry young one, this time you don't have a choice. You have already proven to me to be very disobedient and a nuisance. No doubt why your master has failed in training you. I have a new plan though. Both of us will benefit and you will remain alive." He spoke with frustration and annoyance as he started to activate switches and push buttons on a control panel.

Ezra careened his neck trying to see what he was doing. The panel had multiple dials, switches and buttons. The dials had frequency numbers. The panel was quite foreboding to look at.

"If I hand you over to the Empire, I will be deemed a Hero. If I break you and bring you ready to serve the Empire; I will be rewarded most handsomely." South mused over his plan.

"Hate to tell you this, but you're crazy and I'd rather die than serve the Empire. Who are you anyway? Obviously too weak to be a Sith, and not evil enough for an inquisitor." Ezra smirked as he teased the man before him.

It earned him a painful pulse of electricity that made the boy cry out in pain and it surged his body. When it ended, Ezra kept his eyes shut for several moments letting the pain leave his body as he took deep breaths. His arm felt like it was on fire. His heart was racing.

"I am a Jedi, just like your master. But I follow the dark side. Since Order 66, I have been trying to become part of the Empire but they still consider me a traitor. This will change everything soon. You are the key to my greatness. Not you or your stupid master is going to get in my way. Do you understand?" South said this with great darkness in his voice as he spoke right in Ezra's face. Ezra could feel the anger seeping from him.

"Good luck! If a padawan can hit you with debris, the Empire is going to see that you are not good enough to serve. I'll make sure to tell that to them when I see them!" Ezra was rewarded with another, strong wave of electricity that left him gasping for breath and trembling. The teenager let his chin rest on his chest.

The dark Jedi grabbed Ezra's hair and yanked his head back forcing the youth to look at him.

"Get this straight. When we arrive at Coruscant, you will be given to the Empire. I have no care what happens to you after. If you screw up my plan. I will kill you, your master and all of the people on your ship. One more sarcastic comment from your mouth and I might still just do that." He slammed Ezra's head against the side of the metal holding restraints, stunning the youth, before he flipped a few switches.

"Enjoy." He chuckled darkly as he strode out of the room shutting the door. Within seconds, painful screams filled the ship; sending disturbances in the force far enough that his master felt them with great detail.

The breaking of Ezra had begun.


	11. Chapter 11: Breaking Point

**Chapter 11: Breaking Point**

The vessel that carried Kanan's padawan was much slower through hyperspace than a normal ship its size. South didn't know how to properly pilot a ship; the ride was rocky and uneven, unlike when Hera flew. Ezra didn't know or care anymore. The teen could hardly move. It had been five hours since the start of the dark Jedi's torture sessions. He was wearing down and fast.

Ezra had felt a slight calming coming from no one else but Kanan throughout this, but it was greatly muted by the sheer agony of electricity running through his body. Two hours ago it had stopped. He couldn't feel his master's presence any longer.

It didn't help that the brace he wore on his left arm was metal and conducted a lot of the electrical current. Still, the slight reassurance from his master had been keeping his hope flickering. Now Ezra didn't know if his master was coming to get him or had given up.

The vessel started to quake before Ezra heard a huge pop followed by loud cursing of his captor. Part of the power had gone out meaning that Ezra would get a little relief and time to regroup. The teen picked up his head a little to look around, everything was unfocused. It was getting harder and harder to concentrate on other things besides the negative feelings and emotions in his head.

The door slid open, a very angry human male storming in.

"What did you do?!" He grabbed Ezra roughly by the hair earing a small groan of pain from the boy. He was fixing to be sarcastic but he remembered the threat that had been told to him hours earlier. Ezra wanted no harm to come to the others, even if they had given up their search.

"I…I didn't do anything. I think a fuse blew…" Ezra commenting only seemed to enrage South further before he stopped and released Ezra before undoing his restrains letting him collapse onto the ground in a heap of orange.

"Fix it. Now. I know you know how to. I have a deadline to meet. Don't even think about trying anything!" He hauled up Ezra, dragging him out of the room and shoved him towards the rear paneling that held the fuses and what not. The youth stumbled and fell forward catching himself before his face planted against the grating and forced himself up, moving to the panel.

Ezra started to look it over trying to think of a plan to get out of the mess he was in. He assumed that he was on his own now which would make this even harder.

" _I should have known that this was all going to last…in the end people just don't care about me…"_

His left arm was practically useless right now and he started to wonder if he would be able to use it again at all. For now, he would cooperate until the status quo changed in his favor, if it ever did.

"Yeah…a few blew. It's quick enough to fix, do you have a repair kit?" He turned and looked at the older man who stood slightly gaping at him before his expression darkened.

"How am I supposed to know that? It's not like this is my ship." South growled towards the boy. The fallen Jedi had a good grip on his lightsaber as if daring Ezra to make a move.

"It's normally in the main commons room…This ship is a lot smaller so…." Ezra stated casually forcing himself to move his body again, walking to the edge of the ship to the ramp finding a box secured to the wall.

"It would be next to the ramp…" The boy managed to yank it off the wall and went back repairing the ship. Within moments he had the power back up and running fully.

" _Just need to stay alive until I can get away…"_ Ezra thought as he watched South for a moment.

South seemed slightly on edge, obviously not in his element in the space environment. Ezra could use this to his advantage. For now, he planned to try and stay away from his former restraints as long as possible.

The dark user had other plans and wanted to take no risks. He grabbed Ezra roughly and dragged him back, shackling him again.

"You behaved well, but I can read your thoughts dear child. Until you swear allegiance to me or the Empire, you should just get used to being in pain. The others aren't going to come for you."

Ezra cried out again as the shocks started up, much stronger. His human body, Jedi or not, would not be able to handle this much longer. South left to go try and get back into hyperspace. He cursed noticing a fuel recharging light and grumbled something about technology. Ezra never heard him though.

South figured a detour to recharge wouldn't matter. He had the boy, so he had time. The nearest fuel station was run by Imperials anyway. South set the course and headed that way.

* * *

Sabine had located the most probable ship and the crew was closing in fast on the path it had taken. Hera set the ship to auto pilot and went to refresh her mug. She was concerned about Kanan; he was feeling a lot coming from his student, but was hiding it from the others. The last time she had seen the Jedi, about two hours ago, he was covered in sweat and fairly pale. Hera had commented, asking if he needed anything and he left shortly after to meditate.

"Hera, the ship that we're following just landed on an Imperial refueling station. From the looks of it, this is a pretty big station and is swarming with bucket heads. We'll have to be really careful on this mission." The teenage girl spoke over the intercom.

Hera set her drink down and went to take over the controls. Kanan, having heard Sabine walked into the cockpit within moments looking out the window. He shut his eyes, concentrating, trying to feel if the youth was in fact there.

Two hours ago, Kanan had lost his student as Ezra went unconscious from pain. Since then, he had been unable to feel him. The Jedi didn't know if he had fallen unconscious or died. Still he tried, and he was rewarded with a glimmer of hope.

"I can feel him, he is there." Kanan opened his eyes as he sat down in his normal seat next to the Twi-lek, who glanced over at him seeing that he looked much better than earlier.

"So how are we going to do this boss? I'm in the mood to feel helmets cracking." Zeb came in cracking his knuckles with a sadistic grin he normally wore when he got to bash up storm troopers.

"I'm going in alone this time Zeb. I want you all on stand-by in case something happens." The Jedi's voice was neutral, but held no room for argument. The others simply confirmed with him keeping their thoughts to themselves.

The pilot landed away from the main traffic and docked where they would have less of a chance being recognized. Kanan slipped out quietly and left to locate his student, using the force to guide him. He went as fast as he could. He hadn't told the others that Ezra's signature had changed, for the worse.

"I hope I can get to him before it's too late." He said quietly to himself.

* * *

Ezra was still unable to feel his master. All he felt was pain. A little voice kept telling him that Kanan had finally given up, that he wasn't worth the effort needed to find him; unfortunately, he was too worn down and actually believed it.

The other Jedi on board felt this and knew it was time, that he had won. South came into the room with black material and a long thin box. Ezra was radiating anger and fear. How could Kanan and the others just give up on him after everything they had been through together?

"Well my boy. Are you ready for all the pain to end? My offer stands, give up the ways of light and join the darkness. Under the Empire's rule, you will be great and powerful. No one will be able to hurt you again." South watched the expression on Ezra's face.

The teen hesitated, trying to remember why he had been fighting and enduring wave after wave of pain. He couldn't, he was too consumed with anger that was partially influenced by the man in front of him.

"I guess it's settled then. Take me to the Empire." Ezra gave a small grin of malice as he looked the older male in the eyes.

"First we need to make you presentable. Put these on and then I have a gift for you." He set the clothing and box down, undoing the restraints letting the boy catch himself. The pain of electricity and burns was no longer felt by the teenager, nor the weakness. He stood and proceeded to undress and dress in the black imperial uniform.

It looked sleek on the young padawan, but the darkness didn't suit him.

"A gift young one." South held the box out and opened it. Inside was a lightsaber. Ezra took it and activated it showing a deep red hue.

"Perfect." Ezra swung it around to get the feel of his new weapon. Part of him knew that he was doing something wrong. Everything was cold and muffled. The dark side crushed the thoughts taking over.

"Good. Now, let's go get the ship refueled and head to meet your new master." South never planned to introduce Ezra to Lord Vader. He did plan on making an example of the young teen. The dark Jedi's plan was to take Ezra to Coruscant and kill him in front of the world, proving that he was superior and had right to be part of the empire and not a traitor.

Anyone else, especially Kanan would think the man mad. He had experienced madness in the past, when he had first met Hera; It cost Kanan a lot. He didn't want to deal with it again.

Ezra and South left the ship together. The storm troopers didn't take a second glance at the two dressed in black. A certain Jedi did. When he saw Ezra his eyes widened. He had gotten there too late.


	12. Chapter 12: RUN!

**** Hey Guys! Happy New Year by the way. I've been so busy that when I get home I pretty much collapse from exhaustion. I've prewritten all the chapters but I'm making sure to add more detail and check for errors before posting :) To those of you impatient *cough cough*, here is the answer to why Ezra was turned so fast. :) Enjoy!** ~Ocean**

 **Chapter 12: RUN!**

The dark-haired Jedi followed the two as they walked through the corridors of the facility. Kanan tried to figure out what South had done to his student to turn him as fast as he did. Sure, Ezra wasn't trained fully, but it normally took days, weeks and sometimes months or even years to turn a Jedi. If they didn't join the dark side, or if the torturer got impatient, he would simply destroy the Jedi. No loss to them, the Empire always found what they wanted in the end.

" _One day that will change..._ " The man shook his head and focused back to his task of following the other two Jedi around.

If he needed to, Kanan would take care of the situation. He would do whatever he needed to keep the Empire from getting a hold of Ezra, even if that meant ending his student's life. The idea made Kanan sick, but he knew he it was right and that Master Billaba would have agreed.

* * *

South kept a close eye on Ezra. He still didn't trust the boy despite the darkness that he felt coming from Ezra. The serum he had injected the teenager with after he first captured him was going to wear off soon. He was supposed to be in Coruscant making an example of the Jedi Padawan to the Empire, not strolling around some station waiting for his ship to refuel. The dark Jedi was nervous, but didn't let it show.

" _I can just inject him again."_ The toxins found in the serum, had derived from a coolant of transporting certain explosive isotopes. If inhaled in full concentration, the victim would go into a blind rage. If diluted and tweaked a bit however, injected it was easily effective in changing a person's thoughts and ideas for a short amount of time to a more malicious state; 10 hours to be exact. Even Jedi were powerless against it.

South had been experimenting with the toxin for years, keeping it to himself, starting out with any living being, as force-sensitives weren't exactly easy to come by and he himself was in hiding. At first, the idea was to try and get the Emperor to abolish Order 66, and invite the Jedi to the new Empire. South would be able to inject the stuff into the victims and turn them over the Empire for a week or so of torture before they would change sides.

His plan had been completely fool proof, except that the more experienced Jedi would require years of the injections and torture for their thoughts to remain permanent and not just a symptom.

Jedi were hard to come by these days. He had found an apprentice to follow his ever beckoning calls. However strong the kid was in the force and being able to manipulate minds, he was just as much a brash idiot that was always looking for trouble and disobeying orders. When the pair had found Kanan and Ezra, it was too much for his apprentice. He became too greedy for power; now he lay dead in a mine.

South had lost control of the Jedi master, but there was still hope to take control of his padawan. When the dark Jedi first went into Ezra's mind, it was simply to find a location so that he could follow them. Ezra's mind was riddled with past regrets, horrific memories and so much more that enticed South to begin manipulating everything about the boy.

It was then he decided to try the serum on Ezra, but first he had to get a hold of the kid. Afterwards he would follow through with showing the Emperor how powerful he was, how genius and useful he, a Jedi, was to the Empire. Once the Empire saw that the serum worked, he would kill off the kid and reap the benefits alone. It was all about personal gain.

If the other Jedi would ignore their directive given to them by Obi Wan and change sides, then they could come back and serve. They could be guardians once again to the galaxy. If not, they could just as easily be killed when they appeared. It was a win-win for South and the Empire. It all relied on his ability to get to Coruscant and show the Empire his jewel.

South was forced out of his thoughts when he realized that Ezra had stopped. He stopped as well looking over to him.

"What is it boy? We haven't got time to stand around and do nothing." For a moment, South thought the serum had run its course and that Ezra was back to himself. He reached for his lightsaber.

"We're being followed. I sense my master." Ezra shook his head trying to clear all his foggy thoughts. Kanan wasn't his master anymore, the man had abandoned him. But why had he returned? To kill him. Kanan was going to destroy him so he couldn't serve his Emperor.

"No, he isn't my master. He abandoned me, you are my master now." Ezra's eyes darkened and went for his lightsaber, but South stopped him.

"There are too many eyes around, we are still not welcomed by the Empire, we have to prove ourselves first. This way young one." He quickened his pace to almost a run finding that the halls were empty. Ezra was close beside him. They entered into a hangar that the Imperial troops used to land their craft. It was then that the alarms went off overhead signaling a breach somewhere.

* * *

Kanan tried to keep hidden, but he knew that Ezra sensed him. He had radioed Hera to get Chopper to set a silent alarm, even though that would put him a great risk of being spotted.

The Jedi gave Hera his location and told her to be ready for a quick pick up but to stay put. He didn't want the others to know the fate of Ezra, and didn't want them to meet the other side of the teenager's power. He continued following noticing that there was no more foot traffic and that the two had quickened their pace. He took off after them so he wouldn't lose them.

Unfortunately, 'silent' wasn't in the vocabulary of the Imperials. Never was and never would be. The alarms started to blare around him. Luckily, he figured that Chopper would have sent them as far from Kanan as possible so that would buy him time to grab Ezra and get out of Dodge.

* * *

Ezra and South stopped in the empty hanger. Ezra stared at his new master waiting for their next command. He didn't know why, but he felt that he should be running for his life away from the man in front of him, not standing around doing nothing. The teenager's eyes widened when he heard the activation, and felt the heat of the red lightsaber of his new master in his face.

"That Jedi needs to be destroyed; the Emperor would be pleased and give you honors." He moved the blade point to focus on the hall right as Kanan turned the corner and was visible.

"Yes master..." Ezra's went back to being neutral, no longer surprised, eyes dark.

Kanan grabbed his lightsaber and activated it.

"Ezra! NO!" The older Jedi charged, heading for South.

Ezra watched him getting closer before he drew his new lightsaber stepping in front of South. As he activated the weapon, his master saw that it was no longer his bright blue hue representing justice and protection. It was a deep shade of red.

Kanan stopped and looked wide eyed with disbelief at his Padawan. Ezra had turned, he was no longer a rebel. He had gone dark.

"No…Ezra why?" Kanan was torn. He had failed his promise to Ezra and himself to keep the boy safe. He had been defeated. Kanan's light was gone when he had just recently found it. The Jedi felt weak, ready to give up. He hadn't felt like this since Master Billaba had sacrificed herself and left him alone in the world. He couldn't handle this kind of loss again.

A disturbance crossed his mind in the force and his head snapped up. Behind the two dark Jedi, was the rest of his crew. They were running towards them, Hera was shouting something at him, but he was on deaf ears with remorse.

South turned at the incoming three and raised his blade. The world stood still as Kanan sensed what was fixing to happen.

"RUN!" He yelled as loud as he could, but it was too late.

The Dark Jedi charged.


	13. Chapter 13: Coming To

**** Okay so this is my current, and fever induced delusion attempt at a battle scene. Sorry if it's not up to par...I tried though. Enjoy** ~Ocean**

 **Chapter 13: Coming To**

Kanan chose his priorities quickly; almost unconsciously. Without his padawan he was alone; without his crew he had no hope of getting his student back, if there even was a chance. He leapt, flipping over Ezra before heading to protect the others. He ran as fast as the force would let him and took his blaster out, aiming and shooting for South.

South blocked the shots and sent them flying. He turned, angry at the person that had stopped him from his goal. Kanan got to him and the two blades clashed.

"Spectre 2, get out of here with the others! That's an order!" Kanan gritted his teeth digging his feet into the ground. South was just as strong as him and Kanan had no time to play guardian to everyone. Ezra had pursued his master and soon Kanan was locked in battle with both of them.

Hera was about to argue, but saw that she wouldn't even be able to get in a shot without risk of hitting Kanan or Ezra. The Twi-lek didn't know what was going on, why was Ezra on the other side? She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Right! You heard him, move it!" She motioned where the others were to go; Chopper would be waiting. She looked back once to see the three Jedi in a battle of acrobatics and lights and stopped running. Kanan didn't stand a chance and she knew it.

" _I can't leave him…"_ The pilot knew that if she left, he would be killed eventually; if not by the current fight, then by the Stormtroopers that would soon be swarming. It wasn't like the first time Kanan sacrificed himself for their safety. He wouldn't live long enough to be captured and interrogated.

"Spectre 4 and 5. Get the _Ghost_ and get ready for a pick up. I'm going back for Spectre 1… _maybe 6…_ " She shouted at them before turning around and heading back. The two others nodded and continued disappearing down another hall.

Kanan saw Hera heading back, his eyes narrowed, upset that she hadn't listened. At the same time, he was a little grateful to not be dealing with this situation alone. As he began to say something cocky to her, Ezra cut him off, getting between him and Hera; South headed for the Twi-lek. The Jedi knew this was no place for her heroic antics right now.

"Get out of here Hera!" He used the force to slam South against a metal wall, dazing the human. As Kanan began to turn to face his student again, Ezra had struck out, grazing Kanan's left arm with the crimson blade, causing a small cry of pain to emit from Kanan's mouth. He turned back to Ezra, ignoring the blood starting to freely flow down his arm.

"Come on kid. Snap out of it!"

Ezra charged and Kanan blocked. He was doing everything in his power to not hurt Ezra. He had lost too many friends over the years and wasn't prepared to lose him especially not by his own hand. He would rather die.

"It's me, Kanan! This isn't you Ezra!" The older human pleaded again, realizing that his voice would not be affective.

As gently as he could, Kanan knocked his student back into a pile of canisters. His train of thought was to take out South first, before dealing with Ezra to try once again to reason with the teenager and not resort to violence.

He turned back to the other adult male thinking Ezra was temporarily indisposed, but Ezra had other plans. The teenager force shoved Kanan hard and fast into one of the metal walls; Kanan lost his saber as it clattered to the ground right as he hit the wall and fell down, knocking the Jedi out.

Hera had to do something, she quickly looked around seeing a canister of what looked to be mild explosives right next to the dark Jedi. Hoping to take him out, she aimed and fired.

The room was filled with a loud, ear piercing 'boom', crimson splattering everywhere. Hera looked at it, realizing that it was just paint; she sighed in relief at first, glad it wasn't actual blood and wishing immediately that it had been explosive.

She looked up, South was quickly striding towards her. She started firing round after round trying to stop him but he deflected every shot.

Kanan started to come to; he heard Hera shout, his eyes quickly focusing on where it came from. The older male forced himself up shaking off the pain he was in fixing to sprint in that direction when he felt white searing pain shoot through his body as his leg collapsed sending him back to the ground.

Kanan growled in pain as he instinctively reached for the source of the pain.

Ezra had hit his thigh deeply to keep him from aiding the pilot. Kanan gripped at the wound trying to keep it from bleeding to no avail. It was deep, too deep. Ezra started walking towards him, lightsaber raised, intent on finishing off his target.

"Ezra, kid, it's me! Come on!" The dark haired man knew that he had no choice, he called the lightsaber that had left his hand earlier and activated it right as Ezra came down on him keeping him from a painful death. Kanan managed to push him off before pushing him back a good 10 feet. Ezra's master forced himself up trying to keep pressure on his thigh.

Hera cried out in pain as South lifted her into the air cutting off her way of breathing. Kanan looked over forgetting his battle as he heard the cry of his long term partner. Just as Kanan was pulling his gun to shoot he felt Ezra stab him from behind; he had been too distracted to notice his student get behind him.

Kanan tried to scream in pain but no sound came out. As Ezra pulled the lightsaber out, Kanan dropped to his knees; all his strength was leaving him fast, soon his was plummeting face first to the ground as blood started to seep around him. The man was unable to move, the pain was too great and he couldn't focus it away.

"No…" Hera gasped out as she had seen what just happened, helpless to aid the dying Jedi. She was starting to lose consciousness from lack of air, everything was starting to go dark.

Ezra smirked evilly before realizing that some blood had sprayed onto his face. Not wanting to be unpresentable for the Empire the youth reached up with two fingers and touched the spot before pulling his hand back.

Something seem to break, the serum wearing off and his conscious catching up to him. Everything flooded him; Hera struggling to get away from an invisible force, her feet off the ground, the lightsaber in his hand that was not his, the blood everywhere, his master's fading force signature. Ezra didn't know that the splatter was mainly paint except from what had come from his master.

"Kanan?...Hera?..." He remembered his nightmare that had replayed for days before all this started. His vision, it had come true. His eyes landed on South before they darkened again. He didn't know how he knew; he just knew that that was the person who did this. South needed to be taken out. Ezra charged in a blind rage at the remaining adult Jedi. Startled, South dropped Hera who gripped at her throat choking, trying to take in large gulps of air.

Hera quickly gained composure before taking off towards Kanan falling to her knees at his broken body.

"Kanan?...love?..." She very gently turned him over, oblivious to the fight between Ezra and South going on. Nothing mattered right now, beside Kanan.

Kanan's eyes fluttered open slightly; Hera could see the pain filled green irises. She gave him a small sad smile. He tried to speak but ended up coughing.

"Shh…everything is going to be okay love." The Twi-lek tried to apply a good amount of pressure but she had to stop when she had to grab her blaster. The Stormtroopers had finally found them. The Twi-lek was angry by this point, her emotions everywhere and unlike Kanan with a meditative outlet, she just had her gun. Adrenaline took over and she took out trooper after trooper staying close to her fallen comrade.

Ezra stopped when he saw the infantry enter. He looked over to his two "parents". South took this opportunity and swung. Ezra's eyes widened as everything seemed to happen in slow motion; he would be unable to block, he shut his eyes tightly waiting for the pain that would soon follow.

Seconds passed and Ezra heard the guns firing all around, the shouting, the whole battle, but there was no pain. He opened his eyes. Kanan had sat up, breathing heavily with his hand outstretched. He was holding South using the force.

Fortunately, this made a good block for the kid against the storm troopers. Kanan finally lost his strength and collapsed, South tumbling to the floor full of blaster holes now. The dark Jedi was still alive somehow, but wasn't moving. Ezra activated the red blade and shot after shot was deflected by the Jedi in training as he ran over to aid Kanan and Hera.

"Let's get out of here 6!" Hera glanced back; she was losing ground, more and more bucket heads were filling the hangar by the second. Soon they would be swarmed with no hope of escape.

"I'm not leaving him!" How could he have done this? He didn't remember anything after the ruins. Everything was black until just a few moments earlier. He couldn't move, his hands gripped at his master trying desperately to get him to wake.

He felt warmth again after being cold for so long but he felt the energy leaving Kanan. Ezra refused to cry, but tears pricked the corner of his eyes threatening to spill.

"I'm sorry Kanan….I …I didn't mean to…" The youth was at a loss. He didn't know what to do.

Hera heard the all familiar engines of her ship just in the nick of time. The current pilot landed very close to the three on the ground. The ramp open and all fire was unleashed on the storm troopers. Zeb ran over, taking out a few storm troopers himself before he hauled up Kanan.

"One pick-up as ordered" Kanan's body was limp and lifeless as Zeb threw him over his shoulder and took back off into the ramp. He didn't bother trying to assess injuries knowing that they needed to leave five minutes ago. Hera started to follow, stopping when she noticed that their youngest member hadn't gotten up and followed.

"Kid! Let's go!" Hera took out a storm trooper before they were able to reach Ezra. The kid was in a trance, eyes focused on the blood covering his hands which were shaking violently.

 _"I…killed him. Kanan…so much blood..._ " She tried to get him up; she couldn't shoot a gun and get him back to the ship right now. Luckily the turret cannons fired taking out multiples and she was able to haul him up and get him to the ramp allowing him to drop back to his knees. She punched the ramp closed as Chopper took off, quickly setting coordinates and flying into hyperspace away from the battle; Not before Sabine hit her detonator switch lighting the place up however. The Mandalorian had been placing them as they ran through the facility earlier.

Hera left Ezra, running for the bay where Zeb had taken their leader. She was holding back tears knowing that Kanan wasn't in good shape.


	14. Chapter 14:Negligence

**Chapter 14: Negligence**

Ezra didn't move for hours. He remained on the ramp where Hera had left him. He had been forgotten, all attention diverted to the Jedi that lay dying or dead on the medical bay table. He could feel the pain he was in now, but he ignored it.

To his mind, he deserved the pain for what he had done to his master and surrogate father figure. Ezra didn't know that Kanan was still alive, he couldn't feel his master. The padawan looked at the ramp open button a few times but couldn't get up to push it so that he could jump. Since his failed idea, Ezra had just sat there staring at the metal ramp hoping that it would somehow open on its own.

* * *

Hera was doing everything she could but was in a slight state of shock. The wounds had miraculously stopped bleeding; she didn't realize that Ezra had force healed the older male, the youth not knowing himself. The Jedi had lost too much blood though. Hera knew Kanan was stubborn, and that was what was keeping him alive right now; Or so she thought. The Twi-lek was deep in thought over this when the medical bay door opened.

The pilot looked up as Sabine came in with a med box.

"We picked this up from the black market a while back; took me forever to find it again. It's a bacta kit." She offered it quietly as she helped the green Twi-lek continue treating Kanan.

Her mind wasn't on Ezra at all, but trying to console Hera and trying to save Kanan. They figured Ezra was fine and sulking or in his room avoiding the situation and a potential conversation. Neither women noticed the Lesat get up and leave quietly.

Zeb left to find the person who had caused this much turmoil on the ship. He was angry and wanted to kill Ezra or at least pound him good a few times; how could he do such a thing to Kanan after all Kanan had done for him?

He checked the room not seeing trace of the youngest teenager, before checking the cargo hold where they had originally left him.

The Lesat climbed down the stairs landing in the hold, he looked around seeing the youngest where they had left him 4 hours ago. At first Zeb was about to crack his knuckles and unleash hell upon the kid, but something stopped him.

It was if he could feel the remorse and guilt radiating off the teen. The normally quick-tempered guard's face softened in sympathy. Zeb decided then to let Hera or Kanan, if he survived, deal consequences to him. He walked over somewhat cautiously incase Ezra tried anything not knowing if Ezra was still "crazy" or not.

"Come on kid, let's go get you cleaned up, you're covered in blood and paint and…filth." He tried to keep his voice gentle and soft but it still had gruffness to it. Ezra didn't move or acknowledge him. This slightly pissed off Zeb who grabbed his shoulder and turned him around forcing him up by the collar of the black garbs he was still wearing.

"Think you're too good to talk to me now that you've gotten a taste of the Empire?" He growled in Ezra's face. He regretted the roughness immediately.

"Kid?" He probed a little calmer. Ezra's eyes were half open, but there was no cognitive consciousness to the kid. The taller figure gently shook Ezra, taunting and teasing him to try and get any kind of reaction, but Ezra was so absorbed in his mind and replaying what had happened and what he had "done" that he wasn't cognitive or aware of anything around him. It was like Ezra had mentally died and all that was left was a physical, living shell.

After staring at him for a moment trying to understand, Zeb finally noticed that Ezra was trembling violently. He did the only thing he could think of at the time and pick up the kid taking them to their room and getting him settled on his own bed covering him. The Lesat wasn't rough, but wasn't gentle either still seething about what had happened to Kanan. The teen shut his eyes unconsciously and didn't move from how he was placed. Zeb assumed he had just gone to sleep.

Zeb decided not to bother Hera; he was sure that Ezra was fine, just in a state of shock after what he did.

" _Good, he should feel bad._ " Zeb thought to himself as he went to run diagnostics after their small battle on the station there was bound to have some damage. He didn't know that without the darkness or adrenaline everything was hitting Ezra hard.

* * *

Hera was surprised when Kanan woke several hours later, far from being dead. She refrained from jumping and hugging the injured Jedi and instead resolved to sit on the edge of the bed. He spoke first; Kanan sounded weak, but nowhere near death's door as the crew had originally thought.

"Where's Ezra?" She brushed a strand of loose hair away from his face unconsciously. Hera didn't know how to answer; it dawned on her that she had left Ezra on the ramp almost 10 hours ago. She didn't want to tell the man that his student had been neglected and could be staging to kill them at any moment. We're they supposed to lock him up? She didn't know if he was back to being Ezra or someone else.

" _He probably got up and went to his room or some place to hide from everyone._ " She thought to herself before speaking out loud.

"He was in the docking bay last time I saw him." It was the truth, but the answer didn't work for the male human as he started to sit up. He winced and shut his eyes as the pain overtook him for a few moments.

"You have to rest luv; you were badly injured. I don't even know how you're conscious…or alive for that matter…Ezra, he…" She didn't know how much Kanan remembered of what went on or who had caused damage to his body, but he continued for her.

"He force healed me Hera…. I don't know how; I never taught him that skill…Ezra saved me…" He was still too weak to fight as Hera gently guided him back down. Kanan knew that Ezra was probably weakened by the energy it took to heal the level of his wounds. He didn't even know if Ahsoka had that level of training. It just proved that he needed to do whatever it took to keep Ezra on their side.

Kanan did know that Ezra was no longer fallen to the dark side. He could sense it as he was lying on the floor of the station waiting for death. Kanan didn't know of the serum that was injected into the teen or the fate of the dark Jedi. All he cared about was that everyone was safe and together again.

"The kid is one of us again. He's not a threat…Don't be too rough on him." Kanan was starting to drift again as his body caught up with him.

"I'm glad he had a change of heart...I expect a detailed answer of what happened exactly when you're doing better…" Her response was a small nod.

"Good, now get some sleep. I'll go make sure he's okay." She waited until the pain killers she had just given him kicked in before she got up to go check on Ezra. He felt bad that she had forgotten about Kanan's Padawan, their youngest member.

Guilt hit her and she went first to the commons to get food for him not knowing when the last time he ate was. She turned with the tray and headed up the hall to the cargo hold. Along the way she met up with Zeb.

"How's Kanan?" Zeb asked quietly with his normal tone.

"Kanan should be fine actually. He'll be out of it while he heals, but he should live. He said that Ezra healed him using the force." The words relaxed and calmed her as she spoke them out loud.

She couldn't bare running the ship without him. They had been partners for so long and had been through a lot. Even though she was on a mission and couldn't afford a relationship, Kanan was still _her_ gunslinger.

She continued on her current mission given by their injured leader.

"Have you seen Ezra? I told Kanan I would check on him.

"Yeah, I took the kid to his room, he's asleep by now. Kid looked exhausted; for what he's done he better be more than exhausted or I'll..." Zeb's fury was heightening before Hera silenced him.

"Do not lay a hand on him. Ezra is the reason Kanan is injured, that's true; but he's also the reason that our he is alive. Kanan still has faith in him and I trust Kanan." Her words were strong but gentle. Zeb relaxed sighing in defeat.

"Sorry Hera, still on the fritz. Guess I didn't get to take out as many bucket heads as I needed for my therapy." Zeb grinned slightly sadistically.

"He'll need to shower later, he reeks of blood and…the guy he was with." His nose wrinkled as he spoke. He was still angry at Ezra, but wouldn't act on it anymore, for now at least. Zeb decided to just ignore the boy so there was no conflict.

"Make sure he does please, and try and get him to eat. I'll leave this out for him." She went and set the food back in the commons before going back to stay with Kanan.

Kanan didn't open his eyes, but he didn't have to; he felt Hera's presence as she entered. He was concerned over the fact that he couldn't feel his student though.

"How's the kid?" Hera admired how forgiving Kanan was, and his resiliency to death and pain killers. She smiled.

"Zeb put him to bed and says he's asleep. Who knows what he's been through, he's probably passed out cold from everything. He's safe though." Kanan seemed satisfied with her answer and remained silent, allowing himself to fully drift off. Hera got comfortable and stayed with him letting the other two sentient beings on the ship handle things.

Ezra wasn't just sleeping however. The teen still had injuries back from being on the ship with South and the battle prior to being captured. The burns on his braced arm were deep and painful. His body was almost in a state of shock over everything but no one had realized this because of the black fabric he was wearing. Within a few hours he was running a fever and shivering violently under the covers; no one noticed because their unconscious negligence to the youngest member of the crew.


	15. Chapter 15: Screams in the Night

**** So I got a new pup for training today.** **Currently his name is "A314755" He's a 6 month old Flat Coated Retriver/Lab Cross. He's all black except for a little white spot on his chin and chest. I wish I could show you a picture. Thinking of calling him Bridger, but anyone have any suggestions?**

 **Anyway…Hope you guys like this chapter. I added a lot of detail, but it needed it. Thanks!** ~Ocean**

 **Chapter 15: Screams in the Night**

No one bothered Ezra. They figured he just needed to sleep or was trying to meditate or some other Jedi activity to help with any guilt that the teen might have. Zeb slept out on the acceleration couch in the commons room so he wouldn't disturb the kid. Sabine had finally gone to sleep after staying awake to help Hera with everything; Chopper was currently recharging. Hera stayed with the Jedi, letting him sleep; she knew that he was healing and needed the rest.

The whole ship was silent except for the noises of the ship itself.

It wasn't until Kanan had woken up almost 30 hours later that someone thought about checking on the kid.

When Kanan woke, everything hit him again; the pain, the memories, everything, including how rapidly he was healing. He had seriously underestimated his student's potential ability and strength in the force. The older Jedi sat up weakly holding his side, the tubing connected to him, supplying him with bacta, pulled a little.

"You need to lie down Luv." Hera had woken slightly from the movement and got up, gently pushing him back down. The female Twi-lek began to take care of him, noticing the wounds closing much faster than normal. Faster than last time at least.

"I guess Ezra really did save you. I guess that redeems the damage he caused." She started to clean and re-bandage as they talked to each other.

"He made no mistake to require redemption Hera. I don't think it was his choice in anyway. He's still too untrained to fully resist the dark side and it's not like I'm a fully trained Jedi master that can give him all the guidance he needs. If I was, nothing like this would have happened to begin with. So if he's the blame, so am I." Kanan would defend his padawan to the end. He knew Ezra was a good kid. There were just things he couldn't explain to the others about the force, they just had to trust him.

"Alright, then no one on this ship is to blame." Hera said with a small smile before continuing with Kanan's treatment plan.

"After this last treatment bag, we can probably get you settled in your room where you'll be more comfortable; do you like that idea?...Kanan?" She glanced at Kanan's face, his eyes had shut. He responded by sitting up again.

"When was the last time someone checked on him?" The Jedi sounded a little upset.

Kanan had started to feel his padawan, and with that came the realization that he was injured and sick. Hera looked down a little, trying to think.

"I guess 30 hours ago. I didn't know it had really been that long... We figured we would let him sleep and that he would come out when he was ready." She allowed her Jedi friend to sit up this time.

Kanan started to try and get up. Hera's eyes widened as she went to keep the bacta bag and IV from being ripped from him.

"Hold on a minute would you Kanan?" She quickly undid everything knowing there would be no stopping him. The pilot had learned months ago not to get between Kanan and his padawan.

Hera got him up and out of the room, supporting him all the way down the hall. Kanan's legs were weak, especially the injured one, but he made pretty good time due to his determination. Soon enough they were outside of Ezra and Zeb's quarters. Hera punched the button and opened it helping Kanan over to the bunks.

"Ezra?" Kanan spoke quietly as he managed to lift himself enough to look at his student. The Jedi could tell immediately that Ezra wasn't in good shape. The young teenager was unconscious and radiating a mixture of heat and pain.

"He's burning up. Get him down and into the medical bay." Kanan took a deep breath in; no sense of being angry. The crew's negligence wasn't on purpose or due to any malice. The older male knew that no one would cause their youngest member harm intentionally.

Hera climbed up next to Kanan and gently got Ezra up. The teen groaned softly as he was touched and shifted. Kanan helped as much as he could. Hera ended up slipping and losing her hold on the padawan; with Kanan's reflexes dulled, the youth fell into a heap on the floor not moving.

"Karabast…" Hera cursed under her breath. She got down and started to pick up Ezra again managing to get a better hold and cradle him in her arms. The Twi-lek left with the boy towards the medical bay; Kanan followed as fast as he could, using the wall for support.

When he finally reached the bay Kanan saw Hera cutting the black clothing away from his student. Her face looked horrified at the damage that had occurred to the youth. Ezra's left arm was the worst of it all. The whole arm was shiny and inflamed from being burned. The metal brace sunken and fused with his skin due to the electrical torture he had endured. The skin was a mixture of deep red, black and some white indicating the severity of the burns.

The Twi-lek hissed after the arm was fully uncovered. Kanan came over and looked, eyes narrowing slightly. He knew that the chances of Ezra being able to use the arm again were slim, there was too much damage. He cursed softly so as not to wake up Ezra.

"It has to be removed if it's going to heal at all." Kanan said calming, a bit of sympathy held in his tone. It was going to hurt; probably worse than it did when he had originally undergone the torture.

Hera felt sick to her stomach at the sight.

"Kanan, I don't know if I can do that…I've never…" The normally calm and assertive pilot had hit a wall of her comfort zone. Kanan placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I know you can do it. Hera Syndulla is not scared of anything. If you really don't think you can, I can call Zeb-" Kanan tried his best to comfort her but she gently cut him off.

"No. those two need to sleep, they've been up almost this whole time running diagnostics and helping Chopper fix the damage done. I can do it…" She swallowed hard before she moved away from the boy to get the supplies needed. Kanan stayed next to him a little wobbly and woozy himself sending calming thoughts to the boy to comfort him. He was met with a barrier of fear and guilt but gently pushed those emotions aside letting Ezra know it was okay.

The teenager gently opened his eyes which were glazed over from the fever and pain. He was too far out of it for his memory to serve him properly on everything that happened. He didn't even seem to recognize anything coming from his master; voice or waves.

"Hey kid…you might want to go back to sleep. We're fixing to do something that is going to hurt. We'll make it as quick as possible." The older man kept his voice gentle and soothing.

Ezra nodded and shut his eyes again. He was glad that he had been told to go back to sleep. Sleep meant he didn't feel and right now, that's all Ezra wanted. The teenager knew something bad had happened, that he had done something but he couldn't remember.

Hera came back over with the supplies needed to get the brace separated from his body.

"I couldn't find anything to block the pain, just a pain killer injection…Can his body handle it?" She asked as she lay everything out on a table next to Kanan.

"He's strong…He'll be fine." Kanan shut his eyes for a moment as he felt a huge wave of dizziness wash over him; Hera saw him wobble and reached out to stabilize him.

"You need to rest Kanan." She said in a worried, motherly tone.

"And you need help. I'm not going to leave him again, I've done it too much." He bantered back. Ezra was his student and his responsibility, he wasn't going to lay around and "rest" as his student was forced to endure a painful procedure. No, Kanan was going to stay with him until the end.

Suddenly a memory from the Clone Wars hit him. He had seen something like this before with a boy not much older than Ezra. Another adult sat behind him and consoled him while the procedure was done on battle field.

" _Granted, the padawan died. But his wounds were more extensive than Ezra's"_ He thought to himself remembering that day. He explained to Hera.

With Hera's help, Kanan got the bed sitting up and got behind his student to brace him in case he woke up. This also allowed the Jedi to have more support himself.

With the two settled, Hera set to work on the painstakingly long task of cutting and peeling metal from Ezra's deeply burned skin. It took nearly an hour to fully remove everything and within that hour Ezra had woken up constantly screaming in pain. Kanan did everything he could, keeping him embraced and sending calming waves to his student.

Had the situation been less serious, Hera would have smiled at how Kanan was acting towards the boy that had just tried to kill him days before. The Jedi was constantly whispering soft words of comfort as his padawan screamed and sobbed in pain, with no indication of anger or betrayal.

When it was all said and done, Ezra was soaked in sweat and shivering violently, unconscious in his master's arms. The pain killer had done little to dull the pain, Hera felt horrible that he had to go through it. Ezra's arm was bleeding heavily everywhere as Hera worked to clean it up.

"Good boy….it's all done Ezra. It's all over now…." Kanan continued to whisper to Ezra.

Hera watched with motherly pride as she wrapped Ezra's arm loosely in pure white sterile bandages to keep it from getting infected. She loved seeing the rare moments when the two Jedi bonded like this. It made her have hope that one day the galaxy would be at peace.

"He's going to have heavy scarring. When he is healed we'll know how much use of his arm he will have. There's a lot of damage…I'm sorry Kanan, If I had known I wouldn't have left him alone for so long." Hera was beating herself up feeling that she deserved to take some of the blame of the condition of the boy.

"There is nothing for you to apologize about. This is not your doing an Ezra knows that. What is done is done and we will figure out a plan as things unfold. Let's get the rest of him treated and taken care of and then we'll rest." Kanan wasn't looking at her as he spoke, but he could feel the Twi-lek relax and saw her nod out of the corner of his eye. The dark-haired adult was exhausted and ready to pass out for the next millennia but didn't tell this to his partner.

She finished up taking care of both of the Jedi, helping to get them to Kanan's room at his request and settled in the lower bunk. Kanan wouldn't admit it, but he was actually terrified to release his hold on Ezra, scared that all of this was a dream and that if he woke up, Ezra would be gone again.

Hera made sure they were settled and covered. Ezra was wrapped in an extra blanket to keep him from getting too cold and going into shock. When she was sure that they would be fine she left them, planning to check on them later. The pilot left the room going to the cockpit. They needed to get more bacta to supply both of the boys while they healed. She scanned the HoloNet for a potential, safe area to land and do so.

"Is Ezra going to be okay? Both Zeb and I heard him screaming…" The teen female came in handing a cup of caf to their pilot. Hera sighed as she took it and explained what happened. Sabine sat and looked down.

"All of us ignored him…We should have noticed something was wrong. I didn't even check on him after we got him back." Sabine felt horrible looking down on the ground.

"We should have, but we didn't. He's been taken care of now and will just need us to support him from here on out. I'm trying to locate a planet that we can obtain bacta quickly. I used the rest of it on Ezra for the burns to try and keep them from hardening or getting infected." Hera spoke as she continued her hunt.

"We're close to Thyferra…There's areas in the Southern hemisphere not flooded with Imps. We can probably get some easily." Sabine stated. Because of her old connections with the Empire, she knew that Thyferra was were most bacta production happened.

Hera nodded absentmindedly. She wanted to view other choices, but she didn't know if they would have enough time to locate it on the outer rim of the galaxy. They were already in the inner rim, why not?

"Okay, I'll set coordinates. Go tell Zeb to get ready. We'll hide the _Ghost_ and continue in the Phantom, we won't be spotted as easily and the boys will be safe from harm.

"On it." The Mandalorian stood up and left to go tell Zeb; Hera set the coordinates and headed off. She didn't like being this close to the Core. It was too dangerous now that the whole Empire knew them and wanted to destroy them, but they were on their own. Hera knew the fleet wouldn't help them until they could give a 100% that Ezra was back to normal and she couldn't. She also knew the Empire would expect them to be in the Inner Rim; they would be idiots. She set the ship to autopilot and watched the stars fly by as she shut her eyes.


	16. Chapter 16: Disturbed Rest

****WARNING!: Lots of fluffy stuff and possible slight OC on Kanan's part. I don't view it as that given the situation but others might so I give it fair and square.** **You have been warned Oh and if I get 6 Reviews in 3 hours, I'll post Chapter 17 tonight lol** ~Ocean**

 **Chapter 16: Disturbed Rest**

Hera found an asteroid in the orbit of Thyferra and landed the freighter in one of the darkened craters. The pilot shut off all main sources of power to keep the risk of being spotted low before getting up and walking to Kanan's room. She had a feeling that he wouldn't like their plan, but they had little choice in their current situation.

The female opened the door and walked in. She looked at the two boys. Kanan had shifted them around. Ezra was up against the wall under two blankets covering him. Kanan had strategically placed one of the blankets so that Ezra was in a molded "nest". If Ezra tried to get up and Kanan was asleep, he would know and wake up immediately. The Jedi himself was on the opposite edge, flat on his back. His boots, armor, and blaster holster were laying near-by.

As the door opened and Hera stepped in, the Jedi opened his eyes and glanced over. The green skinned Twi-lek walked over silently; as she spoke she kept her voice low so she wouldn't wake Ezra, if the teenager would be able to wake up right now.

"Zeb, Sabine and I are going to make a supply run for more bacta. I'm leaving Chopper in charge of everything here. You and Ezra stay in bed and rest. Unless there is an emergency I don't want you to leave this room." She watched him and waited for his response, hoping he wouldn't ask where they were.

Kanan seemed to think things over, his brow wrinkled as an indication before he asked his question.

"Make a supply where?" His voice sounded groggy and tired. The Jedi didn't want to move or get up; he was only awake because Ezra had started having nightmares a few moments prior. He was almost asleep again when he felt Hera close by. He watched as Hera looked away to the wall with slight guilt, much like a certain teenager when he was caught doing something he wasn't supposed to.

"Thyferra." She waited knowing his reaction.

"What?" Kanan sprang up, immediately regretting it as he gripped his side in pain shutting his eyes tightly willing the feeling to go away. Ezra stirred from the sudden movement and shifted making a small whimpering noise. Both the adults in the room held their breaths unconsciously; relaxing when Ezra settled back down and continued to sleep.

Kanan let out a silent exhale from holding his breathing, his next words were through gritted teeth still suffering from the pain of sudden movement.

"No. You're not going to Thyferra. It's too dangerous, there's too many Imp-" Hera gently cut him off as she placed a finger to his lips before easing him back into a laying position placing her hand on the one he was using to grip his side.

"Sabine knows the planet and found a location that doesn't have a lot of security. It's a quick trip, no more than a rotation, if that. Besides…" Hera voice remained soft; her worried, green eyes looked past Kanan, to his padawan that was unconscious.

"He needs it, if he gets an infection he might lose the arm…or more. Ezra already has a high fever, and if he goes into shock…we'll I don't have to explain that to you." Hera was genuinely concerned about the state of Ezra's health. This whole mission wasn't for Kanan; it was for his student.

"You're not strong enough to go with, and I want someone here that can keep an eye on him in case something goes wrong. He can't take care of himself right now like he did on Lothal. Please luv?"

Kanan looked up at the deep pools of green. The same ones that had gotten him into a lot of trouble when they had first met a few years ago. They were still captivating after all this time none-the-less. The Jedi caved as usual, sighing in exasperation, rolling his eyes.

"Fine. But keep in contact and update me every chance you get. Any sign of trouble and you leave immediately, don't try to make it out with bacta if it means risking your life. It isn't worth three lives. We can always look in the black market; Ezra's strong he can hold out…" The man still didn't like the idea, but Hera was right; Ezra needed the bacta.

Hera smiled gently as she handed him a com link, before getting up to leave, heading for the door.

"Hera?" The Twi-lek stopped and turned around and looked at Kanan questioningly.

"This isn't an intel mission. It's to get bacta and get back. Do not trail off, I know you." Kanan's eyes were shut, but Hera could detect a slight hint of humor in his voice and a micro fraction of a smile. She nodded.

"I promise, no side missions. I don't plan on leaving you three to my ship. I could only imagine the damage that could happen. We'll be back soon." Without another word she left.

Zeb and Sabine met her at the Phantom and soon the trio was off towards the planet, leaving the droid, and two Jedi behind in the dark. She had given clear instructions to Chopper to keep all power down to minimum; only enough as needed and nothing more. The droid had beeped in response before speeding off to go find something to do while he waited. He had one more assignment that had been given to him.

* * *

Kanan managed to get about an hour of sleep before Ezra woke him. The youngling started by whimpering in his sleep, face contorted with mixed emotions mumbling incoherently. Kanan felt the distress of his young padawan rising and knew that it would escalate to thrashing and screaming as it had earlier. The older male sighed and opened his eyes turning over to face Ezra; he hated that the youth had to go through this and he hated that he couldn't sleep but he didn't blame Ezra and kept his patience.

"Ezra, wake up it's just a nightmare." Kanan's voice softened as he spoke gently shaking his padawan to wake up. After a few attempts, Ezra woke with a start and tried to move to only find himself restrained with a blanket and severe pain shooting up his arm. He cried out softly as he began to struggle.

"Ezra! Calm down." The Jedi placed his hand on Ezra's head and shoulder as he began to send calming thoughts. Ezra soon went from a state of panic to sobbing, tears flowing freely from his eyes. The boy was still trapped in his nightmare that hadn't been too far from reality.

"I…I killed him…Kanan. I killed Kanan...so much blood…so much…I have to get it off…" Ezra could barely get the words out through sobs. He kept repeating it over and over again, apologizing. Kanan quickly saw that Ezra was shifting around wringing his hands and wrists together in a futile attempt to get the non-existent blood off.

Kanan watched him, unsure of what to do at first. Could Ezra not tell that he was right next to him? The last nightmare had been roughly the same and he thought that Ezra understood after he spoke to him the first time that Kanan was still alive. The older human pulled him into a gentle embrace, unwrapping the blanket enough to gently grab his good hand and hold it still so that his padawan would not inflict more damage on himself.

"Shh…I'm right here Ezra. You didn't kill me, I'm still alive. Just calm down. Relax and take a deep breath, let the force flow through you and guide you to relaxation." Being this gentle and soft felt foreign to Kanan, but it seemed to come instinctively through the force so he went with it. He continued trying to sooth his student for a few more minutes before it slowly began to work.

Ezra started to quiet down, taking a few deep breaths. The youth didn't once seem like he was consciously cognitive before eventually drifting back off to sleep. The older man let him sleep, getting him settled again. He could feel the heat through Ezra's blanket and knew that the bacta bandages under the loose white ones were going to be wearing off soon. He hoped that Hera was right and that the trip wouldn't take long.

Kanan tried once again to sleep, or at least nap. He was still healing and most of his energy was going into that motion. Between being worried about Hera and the others, and Ezra's nightmares he found it impossible to get more than 30 minutes of sleep in. He finally just decided on meditation to help relax.


	17. Chapter 17: Deep Sleep

**Chapter 17: Deep Sleep**

Once on the planet, finding a hidden landing zone and locating their supply target wasn't exactly easy. The professional pilot made the landing look simple. They all unfiled from _Phantom_ and began to look for a source.

While the bacta was produced on the planet, finding a local vendor who would sell to the public was much harder. They finally found one, though but it wasn't cheap by any means and the guy selling it kept looking at the trio oddly, as if he knew exactly who they were. It made Zeb uneasy but they continued anyway.

"I didn't like how that guy was lookin' at us Hera." Zeb stated as they left the bazaar. He was put in charge of carrying the med pack with the life-saving supply. He felt like all eyes were on them.

"I agree with Zeb, I looked at back alleys and things while we were on the _Ghost_ , just as a precaution. Let's use those to get back to the ship and get out of here." The Mandalorian was already pulling up intercity maps to get a safe route back. The group unanimously agreed and followed Sabine as the teen walked down lots of alleys and back streets taking much longer to get back than Hera wanted. She had them pause to update their leader back at the main ship.

"Spectre 2 to Spectre 1. Updating status. We've gotten the bacta supplies and heading back to the ship. We're having to take a different direction as an extra precaution, so it might be a bit longer than we agreed." She had been updating Kanan frequently, not wanting him to worry and swoop in guns ablaze looking for them. Granted he wouldn't do that, but he still might do something considered stupid, he did like life on the dangerous side.

"Roger that Spectre 2." Hera noted that his voice sounded really tired. His crackly voice continued as he realized everything she had said.

"Why are you going a different direction? Is everything okay?" Kanan waited for her response. He started to get up to head to the cockpit but his student's soft whimper kept him sitting on the bunk watching him for signs of further distress.

"Everything is okay as of now; just taking extra precautions. How is Spectre 6?" She knew idle chat wasn't good over the coms, but she needed to know if further instructions needed to be given to the human in charge of their youngest.

There was a pause in the line before Kanan answered back.

"Spectre 6 isn't doing well. I'm going to change out his bandages and get everything cleaned. He'll be fine until you return, but don't take too long." The rest of the crew didn't know exactly how bad Ezra was, but for their leader to say he wasn't doing well. That was an eye-opener.

"Try and get some fluids in him too. I'll keep you posted and we'll be there as soon as possible. Spectre 2 out." Hera clipped the com back onto her utility belt before she continued on with the others. Zeb seemed to clutch the bacta even more gently, not wanting anything to happen to it.

Kanan sighed as he stared down at the com in his hand.

"If they get into any trouble." Kanan threated out loud softly. He placed the com back on his nightstand as he put his focus back on his student.

It had been a few hours, Ezra needed the bandages changed. The Jedi figured that he would have to change them at least once awhile Hera was gone but the idea of waking up his sleeping friend and potentially causing him discomfort hurt. He got up weakly and left the room to get the supplies. Chopper was standing guard and beeped angrily allowing his taiser to light up slightly in a threatening manner.

"Whoa! Chopper cut that out. I'm getting something for Ezra." Kanan had a sneaky suspicion that a certain Twi-lek pilot had set him up for guard duty. Any chance for Chopper to shock someone was taken very seriously by the little droid.

Chopper continued to whirl and beep threateningly pushing Kanan back into his cabin. Kanan had no clue what Chopper ever said for the most part but he got the just.

"Okay, I'll stay here and you go get the bandages and med kit for me. Also some water; Hera said the kid needs to drink it." There was no use fighting and Kanan didn't feel like adding a taised to his list of current injuries. He still hurt all over, though he wouldn't admit it. Chopper stopped the threats and beeped somewhat happily before scooting down the hall to follow his directive.

"I swear Hera…It's like you don't trust me to behave." He stated sarcastically to no one but the sleeping form of Ezra. He walked back and started to unwrap Ezra from his blanket cocoon.

The youth didn't appreciate being taken from his warmth and whimpered as he started to shiver almost immediately. Due to the burned skin and loss of fluids, the youth had very little in the way of temperature regulation. Compared to his warm blankets, the air was frigid.

"It's okay Kid. I just need to get the bandages changed so you don't get an infection. It will only take a second and then you can go back to sleep." Kanan said calmly as he finished unwrapping the boy. He kept the blanket over as much as Ezra as he could as Ezra still didn't have any shirt on and he didn't want the cooler air to cause any harm.

Next came the bandages. Kanan took his time and went slow; he reward was only an occasional groan from the youth before him. The Jedi had tried to force heal Ezra, but lacked somewhere and it became a failed attempt. Chopper came in with the kit and water before he gave it to Kanan, giving him another threat not to leave before he left to go stand guard again.

When the bandages had been removed and the burned arm exposed Kanan started to take care of it as gently as he could. He was surprised that Ezra hadn't woken, but he could feel the pain all the moving and shifting was causing. He spoke quietly to his student as he cleaned and re-bandaged the arm, getting Ezra wrapped back up and situated against the wall again. He didn't want to try and wake up the teenager to get water into him. Ezra wanted to sleep, so he was going to let him.

"Kanan…no…I'm sorry…I…there's so much blood…" Ezra mumbled after several minutes of silence as he started to twitch a bit, his face etched with sadness and pain. Kanan, now seasoned with this behavior, was immediately at his side, consoling him and easing him back into a gentle sleep. He spoke softly and kindly to Ezra making sure that he wasn't trying to harm himself. It took several minutes before Ezra quieted back into a deep sleep.

The Jedi noticed that his padawan was still shivering and got up, getting his heavy jacket from his closet draping it over him. He was at a loss of what to do and the person who did have any clue was on a planet covered with Imperials.

Kanan was never good at waiting and that was all he could do right now. The older human got settled laying back down making sure that his hand was gently on his student to aid in sending calming waves. Before he would ever have a chance to stop it; exhaustion from his own healing injuries caught up and Kanan found himself plummeting into a deep sleep.

The Jedi didn't even wake after several hours when the star destroyer patrolling the area flew overhead of the _Ghost_ ; his body no longer cooperating on the plan of remaining awake to take care of his student or wait for Hera. It had decided to take charge of its own schedule and it decided that Kanan needed rest.


	18. Chapter 18: Power Outage

****MUHAHAHAHAHAHA** ~Ocean**

 **Chapter 18: Power Outage**

The trio finally made it to the _Phantom_ after almost two hours of back tracking and changing paths. Zeb had noticed they were being followed almost immediately upon leaving the bazaar. Sabine checked the area making sure there was no one around before giving the go ahead for them to approach the smaller ship.

"We finally lost whoever was following us. I'm surprised we didn't neutralize them." The teen was a little confused at Hera's choice to just keep going like nothing was happening.

"Yeah Hera, what's up with that? Not like you to have a kind heart to Imperials." The Lesat's gruff voice showed how annoyed he was at the situation. He always loved to bash some Imp heads together and he had missed out.

"I made a promise to Kanan. No side missions. In and Out. We don't' need anything to happen because I don't' think he would be able to save us if something happened." She spoke as she flipped switches and started the engines before taking off. She disguised the ship as a touring shuttle and made her way off the planet hoping she wouldn't have to return any time soon.

As Hera and the crew left the atmosphere, the pilot's eyes widened as she immediately noted the star destroyer parked alarmingly close to the location of her ship. Too close. She grabbed her com link and radioed in.

"Spectre 2 to Spectre 1, do you copy?" She waited for a response. After a few moments she tried again her voice sounded a little more desperate; Sabine and Zeb watching worriedly in the back.

"I repeat. Spectre 1, do you copy?" She watched the star destroyer as it continued loomed ominously. They hadn't been spotted yet and she had no intentions of allowing that to happen. She flew further away and watched from a far distance.

"The communications are down…We can't get close without getting spotted. Chopper probably powered everything down to reduce the chance of them being noticed. Sabine try to see if you can find out how long our unwanted guests are going to stay in this system please." Hera was anxious to know if the boys were alright but knew that being gung ho wouldn't help the situation. If she was younger that probably would have been different. She had hidden her main ship well in the deep dark crater, but the Empire had their ways of overturning rocks.

"On it." The Mandalorian started to work on gaining access through the HoloNet to find out what was going on and if any prisoners had been recently captured. It took her a few minutes before she reported anything from her back bench she was occupying.

"It looks like they've been there for two hours; picking up someone important from Thyferra. No prisoners or troopers deployed. It says they should be leaving the system to return to the Core any moment now. Strange that they want a star destroyer as a transport…" As the teen said this, one of the planet's shuttles left a docking bay of the enormous ship and headed back to its home. Soon after, the star destroyer activated hyper drive and disappeared into nothingness.

"That was fast…It says nothing about prisoners Are we sure Kanan or the kid wasn't caught?" Zeb commented looking over the encrypted data with Sabine. The honor guard didn't like to go flying into battle with a star destroyer, but if they had messed with his family he would raise hell.

"Nothing..." Sabine continued to browse slightly just to make sure.

"Nope, nothing. Everything happened to protocol and routine." She shut the Net off and sat back in her chair glancing over at Hera how had turned the engines back on and turned towards the asteroid.

Hera wasted no time speeding the _Phantom_ to the ship and getting docked. They entered the main ship, Hera had her blaster ready just in case. First thing they noticed that it was pitch black and alarmingly cold; all power had been in fact turned off by the droid to keep from getting discovered. Hera grabbed a flash light from her belt and turned it on shining it around. She heard Chopper, the droid coming in prepared to defend his ship. Once he noticed it was his owner he went off on her in a bunch of frustrated tones.

"Chopper quiet down, I need you to get the main power back on." The Twi-lek relaxed and lowered her weapon before holstering it.

"What do you mean you can't get the power back on? What's wrong with it?" She went with him as he proceeded to beep and whirl at her, heading to the main control panel and started looking things over as Zeb went to drop the bacta off growling when he would bump into walls. Sabine started to try and help by going and checking on the boys; she shivered slightly looking at the internal temperature reading of the ship.

"Hera it's 41 degrees and dropping." The girl stated before going to try and check on Kanan. Because of the power failure, she couldn't get Kanan's door open. She tried knocking and calling to him but there was no response.

"That's because there's no heat and we're in a crater. Tell me something I don't know." Hera sounded a little frustrated as she dug around in the lines trying to figure out something that had caused the malfunction.

"Well…the backup power doesn't work and the door jamb has failed, I can't get Kanan's door opened, and he's not answering me."

"I already know that too; Wait what do you mean he's not answering you? Are you sure he's in there? Is he okay? I'll have it up in just a moment. I didn't realize that the fuel cells were this low, there has to be some kind of malfunction. Chopper make sure diagnostics are run on the cells. If there's a malfunction it needs to be fixed." Hera commented to the girl while speaking to herself, chopper and continued on working, getting a backup battery and cell installed.

The power came on immediately, all the lights starting to light up the darkened ship. Hera was up and giving Chopper directions to set coordinates for the outer rim and get them into hyperspace.

"We need to get to a refueling station fast. This is only a backup and it won't last long. Keep any unneeded power like the lights on low priority." She checked as much as she could while closing up the panel. The Twi-lek wanted to get as far from this area as she could. She quickly hurried to Kanan's room where Sabine was standing at the door peering into the almost dark room.

"Are they okay?" Hera's chest pounded at the thought of something being wrong. Had they been captured? No, Chopper would have said something. If they had been without power for 2 hours in this temperature though, hypothermia could have set in quickly in their conditions; there was still several hours of air to breath at least.

"I think so…I don't know but they're pretty cute." Sabine stated quietly as she moved to the side for Hera to come in. Her heart melted at the sight.

Kanan was curled up on his side facing the wall. He was uncovered and shivering, but he had Ezra close by, one hand on the youth protectively. Both were fast asleep completely oblivious to the fact that they would have been hours from death. This slightly concerned Hera that Kanan hadn't woken up and said something to her or try and fix the situation himself.

Sabine left before coming back with extra blankets gently laying them over the two.

"It should be heating up in here soon enough. But I'll go redirect most of the cabin power into this room." Sabine left Hera and the two alone.

The Twi-lek walked over and sat next to him gently trying to wake up the normally vigilant Jedi. She grew even more concerned when he didn't wake up and tried again.

"Kanan, luv. Time to wake up now. I'm back." On the third time of him not waking Hera felt his forehead and noted how cold it was. He was cold all over; his arms, hands and back. Ezra on the other hand was still hot due to the burns covering his arm and the fever.

She watched him for a moment trying to catch any glimpse of Kanan breathing. Not finding any, her panic levels raised. She hesitated, swallowing hard before trying to find a pulse.


	19. Chapter 19: Rest In Peace

**** Okay so more fluff and other stuff. No killing me lol I'm sick, feverish and dealing with the aftermaths of a few "mild" seizures :P I want fluffy. I promise that I tried to stay in character as much as possible :) ** ~Ocean**

 **Chapter 19: Rest in Peace**

Hera sighed in relief as she felt a slow by steady pulse on the neck of older Jedi. She visibly relaxed, all anxiety leaving her mind.

" _Don't scare me like that Kanan…_ " She thought to herself as she removed her hand hesitatingly, tucking the blanket around him more.

Zeb had been watching the whole thing unfold.

"Is he okay?..." He asked with caution, eyes on Kanan.

Hera nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, He's sleeping, just deeply. I guess everything finally caught up to him." The Twi-lek sat back watching him for a moment before getting up to leave.

"We'll let it warm up more in here before I wake Ezra to change the bandages. Thank you for your help today Zeb." Hera offered him a smile as the two of them left to let the two Jedi be in peace. They met in the commons area with Sabine and Hera made a small meal for the three while they traveled through hyperspace. It wasn't much, but everyone loved Hera's cooking.

* * *

As the _Ghost_ entered the outer rim, the ship jerked, lights flickering before the engines lost all power. Hera cursed softly as they began to just drift in space.

"Karabast…Well…at least we made it this far." She looked at the ship status seeing that there was still power, just not enough for the ship to move. She turned the intercom on.

"Zeb, Chopper. Reroute the power of the _Phantom_ to the _Ghost's_ main power. That should be enough to get us landed at the nearest planet. Sabine, how are the diagnostics going?" Hera asked as she sat back rubbing her forehead with her fingers. Earlier she had Sabine take over diagnostics so that Chopper could run a few other scans.

"On it Hera." She heard Zeb reply.

"Not gonna lie. It seems when we were on the station, one of the blasters hit a line so we're leaking fuel. When we land, I'll get right on fixing it." Sabine had her usual voice as she spoke, Hera heard her clicking away at a few things.

"Alright." Was all the exhausted pilot said as she turned the communication switch off to sit in peace for a few moments.

Several minutes later, they were back online and Hera headed for the nearest planet that none of the crew wanted to be on ever again. It was the same one that seemed to have started this whole mess. As Hera landed, she noted that it was still as cold and wet as last time. Little flurries hit the cockpit window as she landed on the dark planet. It reminded her a lot of Gorse from where she had originally picked up Kanan, except there was no beautiful crystal moon to look up at.

She got her gear on and headed outside the ship to begin refueling; unfortunately, the bacta had cut them immensely short of credits. Hera paid for what she could and struck a bargain with vendor selling the fuel cells. They would be there for a while so she figured helping out the guy's family move into a new house was the perfect barter for a full ship.

They shook hands, Hera promised to be back after she fixed her leak. As she came back to the ship she saw Sabine and Chopper welding away at the bottom of her freighter, fixing the leak making sure it was fully functional. The Twi-lek walked over as Sabine looked up from her finished job; the Mandalorian turned to face the adult female.

"We're all ready for a full tank now." The girl smiled, patting the astro droid next to her who beeped proudly.

"Thank you." Hera said tiredly as she explained the deal she had to complete to get all the fuel they needed. Sabine saw how tired her mother figure looked.

"Hera? Why don't Zeb and I go help the family. We've gotten to sleep some. I doubt you have in the last few days. We have it all under control." The teen suggested as she put the tool kit away. Chopper seemed to agree with Sabine even if it meant going out in the weather.

Hera nodded smiling.

"Thanks Sabine." Hera said as she began to explain what they needed to do. Soon Zeb and Sabine left along with the droid into the freezing rain. Hera climbed up the ramp, shutting it to help keep the warmth in, and headed to her Cabin. Just as the overly exhausted pilot was allowing her head to hit the pillow she heard the shouts of Kanan's distressed Padawan. She got up and rushed to the room slamming the button to open the door.

"Ezra?" She let her eyes adjust as she looked around.

Kanan looked over with slightly wide eyes.

"Help me with him." The Jedi said a little more harshly than he wanted. Hera understood seeing that Kanan was struggling to hold down Ezra without injuring him further.

Hera came over and helped get Ezra out of the blanket seeing that he had rubbing his wrists raw to the point of bleeding. The youth was still sleeping, but trapped in a nightmare and struggling. He kept shouting and mumbling about getting "the blood off" and screaming Kanan's name.

"I can't convince the kid that he didn't kill me and now he's gone and blocked me." Kanan was beyond frustrated as not being able to console his student.

They juggled him a bit before Hera finally took over wrapping her arms around Ezra protectively, cradling the young teenager talking softly to him and brushing his bangs to the side. He thrashed against his unknown captor. Kanan watched with worry.

"Ezra calm down. You're just having a nightmare honey. We're all safe. Kanan is safe and right here…" Hera's voice was so much softer than Kanan's ever could and it worked.

She gently grabbed Kanan's hand and placed it on the boy's shoulder; Kanan took the hint and started to try and get through Ezra's mind barrier again. As she continued, the padawan began to calm down relaxing against Hera's chest. Kanan was a little bit jealous as he took notes of how Hera was calming his padawan. He smiled slightly though at the two. After Ezra relaxed even more, Kanan was able to get through and sent waves of calm to his student to help.

Hera looked over to Kanan and saw that he was still shivering.

"Go take a hot shower so you can warm up. You're going to need it because of where we had to land. I can get Ezra's bandages changed and try and get something into his stomach while you're doing that." Even though the female pilot kept her voice soft as she spoke, she still left no room for argument; something she was very talented at doing.

"You mean we're?" Kanan wanted to roll his eyes. He never wanted to set foot on the planet again. It reminded him of a gloomier version of the planet he used to almost call home. At least Gorse had almost all the alcohol he could stomach and then some. Hera just nodded as she continued to stroke Ezra's hair.

"Okay. I'll take a quick shower and then come back." He got up and grabbed his clothes looking at the two again before leaving.

Kanan took longer than he meant to, but the hot water over his wounds and sore muscles felt really nice. He didn't remember ever taking a longer shower than he did that evening. He felt refreshed when he finally shut off the water and dried off. Once dressed he walked back to his cabin and went in.

It was Hera's turn to be curled up with his padawan. Her back was against the wall with her arm protectively around the young boy much like a mother holding a small child after a nightmare. Kanan felt around with the force and noted that both were sleeping peacefully. He smiled a rare smile and walked over, pulling the blanket up over them. He saw a little more room on the bed and he slid in, sandwiching Ezra between the two adults. He sensed Hera wake a little.

"Don't get use to this Kanan. And don't get any ideas." The Twi-lek whispered half-threatening her eyes staying shut but a small smile had creeped onto her face.

"I know I know. You're on a mission and don't have time for personal relationships. We've been through this a million times. I'm just laying down, not my fault you picked the wall to fall asleep against." Kanan raised his hand in innocence and got settled. It was a little cramped but far from uncomfortable. The Jedi felt his student relax even more as he felt the presence of his master next to him. Ezra felt protected right now and it allowed him to dream peacefully. Kanan sighed.

"You're going to be the death of me one of these days, kid…I hope you don't get used to this..." The Jedi shut his eyes but remained awake for a bit. Once he heard Hera's breathing even out and felt that Ezra was in a peaceful state the older human allowed himself to finally drift off again. All three slept in peace despite the strong winds and storm blowing around outside.


	20. Chapter 20: Warm Welcome

**Chapter 20: Warm Welcome**

As the hours turned into days, Kanan slowly regained his strength. Hera and the Jedi would get into constant quibbles when she would catch the man not resting. He would always banter back that he didn't sleep to begin with because he would be up most of the night with Ezra and the nightmares the teenager was having. Meditation was his only saving grace from exhaustion.

Unlike Kanan, Ezra wasn't doing better. The young padawan hadn't fully woken up yet, which concerned the two parents of the _Ghost_ crew. The bacta was helping his arm heal and keep his fever down but it seemed that Ezra's mind was his main ailment. The trauma at having "woken up" to stabbing his master was severe to the point that the padawan didn't want to wake up.

Each nightmare, Kanan or Hera was constantly having to reassure him that the older Jedi wasn't dead. That he was alive and well. Each time it was getting harder and harder for Kanan to make a connection with him to help calm him.

That changed one day about a week after the whole incident when Hera was out getting supplies, and Sabine, Zeb and Chopper were out on an assignment to earn more credits. Kanan had snuck out to the commons to try and cook himself a meal and get some caffeine. Chopper wasn't babysitting him, and it was a nice feeling getting to be an independent adult again.

Ezra woke up panicking when he didn't recognize the room he was in; the youth tried to get up and stumbled due to his weakness falling hard and landing directly on his burned arm crying out in pain.

Kanan felt the panic of his student and rushed to his room thinking it was another nightmare. Right as he got there he heard the cry of pain. He opened the door and immediately saw his student in a heap on the floor.

"Ezra!" Kanan knelt next to the young teenager and gently helped him up. He started to look over his student to make sure there was no further injury besides pain. Convinced, he looked at Ezra.

"Are you okay?" He kept his voice soft; that had become his normal voice when it was just him and the kid due to all the nightmares and consoling he had been doing. The teenager looked down and nodded slightly before letting out a small sob.

"I killed Kanan…" The older male looked at him with complete bewilderment.

"Are you kidding me?" He grabbed Ezra's head gently and forced the youth to look him straight in the eye. Kanan could see the dullness. Looking deeper he saw a world of hurt and sadness; fear and apprehension.

"Ezra Bridger, I want you to look at me. I'm still alive, you didn't kill me. You have got to snap out of what every this is that you're in." Kanan's voice almost sounded panicked. He was scared that Ezra held no recognition and that he was keeping himself blocked.

Ezra looked deep into his eyes, his pupils shifting slightly to adjust. Finally, Kanan saw recognition in his eyes.

"K...Kanan?" Ezra asked with a tiny voice. Kanan smiled and nodded.

"The one and only. Welcome back Kid." He released his grip of his student's head and reached up with one gloved hand and ruffled the kid's hair.

"You had me worried sick." Ezra looked down and shied from his master's touch. He tried to move and attempted to use his bad arm hissing in pain and holding it close to him.

"Hey be careful, you're still healing. Ezra, what is it?" The older man helped Ezra get up and sit on his meditation stool. The room was silent for a while.

"I tried to kill you. I don't remember what happened...but I woke up and there was so much blood….you were dying…Hera was there and yelling…then everything just went blank again…I felt so cold…" Ezra sounded very distant as he spoke not making eye contact.

"It wasn't you…and it wasn't your fault. You actually were able to force heal me. If you hadn't, I would have died." The Jedi sat on the bed with his elbows on his legs.

"I had Hera run some blood tests as a precaution. I was correct with my hunch. You had traces of a toxic coolant used to transport Baradium-357. Highly explosive stuff, but if someone is exposed to the coolant, it causes them to pretty much go crazy with rage. I have my guesses on how it got into your blood, but when it wore off you woke up." Kanan finished and just watched his student. Ezra looked so broken, trying to make sense of everything.

"What happened to South?...Is he gone for good?" The teens voice was quiet and lost. He was scared that South had gotten away and was still able to get inside his head or track him. Kanan looked at him curiously before realizing he meant the other force user.

"Yes, he's gone for good. No more voices in your head, no more seizures, and no more torture sessions. I'm sorry kid that you had to go through all that." Guilt held in his voice as Ezra looked up at him.

"It's an occupational hazard right? Hey Kanan? What happened to my arm?" The youth tried to move it as an example but ended up wincing in pain and keeping it still.

"My guess is that when your captor had you, he tortured you using electrical pulses. You still had the brace on so it did nothing but burn your arm because of the conductive metal. Considering how long until we had found you, it was burning your arm for hours." Kanan anticipated his question and answered it before he could ask.

"We don't know how much use you will get out of it when it's fully healed. There was extensive damage done. The bacta wraps have helped tremendously with the skin; there's hardly going to be much scarring, but I'm not sure about the muscle damage."

Ezra's head dropped further.

" _Great…so I'm going to be completely useless to everyone now…maybe they should have just let me die…"_

Kanan was starting to be able to sense more and he could tell this was a harsh prognosis for the boy. It would be for anyone.

"There's ways to get it fixed, or I can help you harness the force more during training and it shouldn't give you a problem. Whichever you choose, everyone will have your back." Kanan smiled as he spoke; he was trying to get Ezra in a more positive mood.

"You want to still keep training me? Even after everything I did and what happened?" The younger male looked at him with wide, but pleading and slightly hopeful eyes.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I? I think it would be dangerous to not continue with your training. As soon as you're feeling better we can start small and work our way up the scale." Kanan felt a spark of happiness, that he had missed feeling, coming from his student.

Ezra promptly stood in child-like determination.

"Okay, how about now?" He took a step and started to fall forward; gentle but strong arms caught him and sat him back on the chair.

"You need to take it slow Kid. You have been sick for a while now and you don't have a lot of strength. How about we start with food, and maybe a game of Dejarik or two? Possibly a shower, I'll have to ask Hera if you can with your arm; She's calling all the shots. Has me on a short leash right now." Ezra nodded and gave a little smile at the offer. Kanan helped him up; and helped him walk out of the room, down the ramp and into the common room getting him settled in the larger chair. He saw Ezra give a small shiver and he left, returning with a blanket wrapping it around his student.

As Kanan started to make something, the two continued to talk; Ezra starting to act and feel more and more like his usual self. The young teenager started to relax and ate a little bit of soup that the Jedi had heated up before they started their games.

A few games later, Hera walked into the commons seeing the two. Her face lit up at the sight of Ezra sitting up and conscious, not screaming in fear or pain. Ezra looked up sensing her, locked eyes for a few seconds before he looked away starting to close up again.

" _What does Hera think of me? She was so mad I could sense it. She left me at the ramp…She didn't care…"_ Hera came over and gave him a huge, motherly hug being mindful of the injured arm. The contact and warmth melted the self-doubt that Ezra had begun having.

"I am so glad that you're awake Ezra. We were all so worried. Zeb is going so stir crazy with no partner in crime that he's willingly cleaning and doing chores. You're not allowed to scare us like that again." She smiled as she spoke unable to contain her happiness. She looked at the game and then at Kanan.

"I thought I told you to stay in the room and that I would make something to eat when I got back." The Twi-lek cocked an eye at the older man as she released the hug standing to face him. Kanan looked up at her with shock.

"How come Ezra gets a hug and I get lectured? The kid was hungry, and a good game always cheers you up right? I wasn't doing anything else, ask him?" Kanan knew he wasn't in trouble, but he still had to defend his point. Hera loomed over the game for a moment before straighten up again.

"So who's winning?" She smirked as Kanan slightly dropped his head in defeat.

"Surprisingly…Ezra. I don't understand how, I've never lost." Hera laughed at the face he made and sat to watch. When the other three returned from their own assignments they all greeted Ezra warmly; Sabine even hugged the younger teen. They visited and talked for about an hour before saying goodnight and disappearing into their respected cabins. The three remaining continued to visit with each other until the pilot noticed that Ezra was starting to fall asleep sitting up.

"Kanan, I think it's time that he goes back to bed. He's still recovering and is probably exhausted. This must have been a lot of Excitement; poor kid is probably overloaded." Hera whispered to the Jedi. Kanan nodded and stood walking over to the sleeping student. He gently picked up Ezra deciding to not wake or make him walk.

"Good night Hera. We'll see you in the morning." He took him to his room and put him on the bed getting him settled.

Ezra woke slightly and tried to protest. He even tried to get back up. In the end, the youngling failed his attempts and fell asleep. Kanan smiled as he shut off the lights and climbed to his top bunk and settled down himself. Soon both were fast asleep.

For the first time in a very long time, the young Jedi wasn't disturbed once from a nightmare.


	21. Chapter 21: Ezra's Resolve

**** Hey guys. Second to last chapter of this story before it's book is closed :) I'm actually a little sad to finish this trilogy. I wanted to keep it going forever lol. Thank you to everyone who enjoyed reading it and reviewed. I love seeing the reviews, it helps me get through hard days. I read them and smiling knowing that even though I know none of you, that somehow I'm loved and wanted. Thank you all! Enjoy and stay tuned for new stories! If you have any suggestions you want me to try, please PM me. I have a few lined up that are requests but I have many days ahead.**~Ocean**

 **Chapter 21: Ezra's Resolve**

"Ezra you need to focus!" Kanan was losing patience. They had been training, more like physical therapy for about an hour and the kid had shown nothing for it.

"I'm sorry Kanan. I just don't feel it today." The youth said as he looked away with a small scowl. A month had passed and Ezra was more or less healed as much as he was going to get. He had some scarring on his arm, the muscles still destroyed.

Kanan had him trying to just pick up small objects with it. Not using the force, just his own hands. Ezra was too busy, lost in thought, to listen to the instructions his master was giving him. Ezra walked a little a ways and plopped down on a rock staring at a clump of mud and concentrating on it. Without any intention, the small clod started to levitate.

Kanan walked over and sat down next to him with a heavy sigh.

"Look Kid, I know this is hard for you. But if you want it better, you have to do little things to strengthen you arm." Kanan spoke in his normal tone. He watched the mud levitate before Ezra realized what happened and broke his concentration causing it to drop.

"We haven't done any real Jedi training in a while. How about some sword skills?" The older male was trying to stay patient and understanding. He watched as Ezra got up with some effort and started walking back to the ship.

"I don't feel like it." The teen mumbled between a clenched jaw.

Ezra was scared of using the force, of training with the light saber. What if he went dark again? He would rather never use the force again than take that risk.

Kanan watched him disappear into the ship before he gathered the objects he had brought outside and went in as well closing the hatch. They were on the same stormy and cold planet, but Hera had landed elsewhere. The sky always threatened to pour, but some days it didn't. Today it was relatively dry.

Hera stepped in front of the Jedi as he turned to get to the ladder.

"Any progress?" She asked quietly already knowing the answer when Kanan sighed and dropped his head, shutting his eyes and nodding.

"No, and he once again stepped away from Jedi training. I can't get him to open up, and I can't get him to do any sort of therapy." His voice was a mixture of frustration and sympathy for his young student. Something needed to resolve and soon.

"Do you want me to talk to him?" Hera continued to watch him.

"No. I need to do this, and alone. It's not raining, I'll take him for dinner in town and try and get him to talk." Kanan was resisting relying on Hera, determined to get through this with the Padawan.

"That's a good idea, I've noticed the kid hasn't been eating most of the time. He's probably starved. And Kanan? Love? Remember that we're all in this together. We support each other. Don't think you have to do this alone." She smiled a sad smile and watched Kanan walked past her and head up the ladder.

"I know Hera. Thanks" He disappeared behind the door.

* * *

Kanan found his student in the front gunners seat staring at the only thing left he had of his parents. The picture Sabine had cleaned and found for him.

" _I'm sorry Mom…Dad…I know you want me to do something to make you proud…but I'm useless now…and I'm scared that if I use the force, I'll hurt Kanan…or someone else."_ He looked away from the picture ashamed. Unfortunately, the force didn't plan to leave the youth and told him that his master was behind him. He glanced to the side without moving.

"Sorry I'm so useless to everyone…Maybe I should just go back to Lothal, or Alderaan…any place but here." Ezra said bitterly, half expecting Kanan to agree.

"That's not true and you know it. Ezra, get up, you're coming with me. We're going into town. I have a few things to get and you need to get some more fresh air. We'll get some grub while we're out."

Ezra knew better than to argue; didn't mean that he couldn't roll his eyes and throw some teenage attitude silently at his master's directive. He stood and turned walking past Kanan heading for the ramp again. Kanan followed quietly, allowing him to have his moment.

They two walked in silence for a while before Kanan decided to speak up.

"I know what you're doing kid and it won't work. Believe me, I tried for almost 15 years." His words were casual, but Ezra knew that Kanan opening up meant a rare look into his past life.

"I'm not trying to do anything." The kid snapped back defensively taking another step sideways away from Kanan as if being further would make him feel less guilty.

Kanan ignored his student and continued.

"Ezra, There's no way to make the force go away. It's not some switch that you can just shut off whenever you want. It isn't just about protection, mind tricks and making things levitate. It's part of you. It enhances your traits and flows through you without any conscious effort. No act of will can make it stop, and no lapse of belief or avoidance will make it fully disappear." Kanan spoke words of his own, not from any masters he had trained under. He spoke from experience, and Ezra felt, and knew this immediately.

Ezra found it hard to not be open with his master and finally spoke his feelings.

"I'm scared Kanan. Scared I'm going to hurt you or someone else that I love. That's why I don't want to train anymore. I'm scared of failing you, making you and my parents disappointed. I'm scared of making a mistake because I can't hold the stupid light sword in my dominant arm." He finished angrily motioning to his almost paralyzed limb that was once again in a brace. Ezra looked down regretting his outburst; he wanted to just run away and never look back. He stayed though because that's what had gotten his arm into the condition it was in the first place. He wasn't strong enough to fight the dark side and allowed it to manipulate his thoughts.

Kanan got in front of him and stopped forcing Ezra to do the same.

"If you're scared you need to talk to me and we can work through it. Master Yoda always told us that a fear inside of us must be named before we can banish it. I can tell you that your parents will never be disappointed in you. **_I_** will never be disappointed in you. You are not useless, you're injured and still recovering. You are a good kid and will make a great Jedi one day. You have a pure heart, it's just harder since training is not formal at the temple. But I will get you to where you need to be. I promise."

Kanan watched Ezra for a little bit longer in silence before continuing.

"As for your arm. If you don't start small, you will never be able to do anything more with it. Baby steps okay? If you think that just trying to lift up small objects is stupid, then tell me and we can find something else to do. You have to be willing to meet me and the crew half way though." Silence fell between the again as Kanan started to walk again. Finally, Ezra spoke up.

"Kanan?" His voice cracked slightly but remained almost a whisper.

"Yeah?" The older man said as he turned to look at his student.

"Thanks…Thank you for believing in me and giving me so many chances I don't know if I really deserve. I want to be better than I am. Not to be stronger or more powerful. I just want to do my best; I want you to be proud of me..." Ezra looked up at the sky and smiled before his eyes turned back to the small city they were walking to on the horizon.

Kanan smiled, he could feel the emotions of his Padawan melting away to a new resolve and determination.

"Anytime. You do the same for me every day." The Jedi said as he placed his hand on Ezra's good shoulder as an affectionate gesture.

Without warning, the sky opened and the rain started to pour down on top of the two. They started to run to their destination, completely soaked when they arrived at the cantina. They walked in and sat down near the fire.

"So…since I was in a bad mood last time…can I cash in on my whatever I want because "I won a training practice" ticket?" Kanan laughed a little glad to hear his youth's normal sarcastic voice.

"Sure, just don't break the bank kid. Hera said that you needed to eat more so I'm sure I can put some of it on her bank." Kanan knew that Ezra had a way to go before he would be mentally back to normal as well as physically. But in this moment, Ezra was in the present, right where he needed to be. Not worried about the future and not dwelling in the past. Kanan could not have been anymore prouder of his Padawan.


	22. Chapter 22: Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"Good. Keep focusing Kid." Ezra was having a moment of déjà vu. Kanan was standing more towards the back of the ship as it sailed through the clouds and the youth was balancing one handed on top of the glass dome of the ship's turret.

Over the last month he had been doing exercise after exercise keeping bacta wraps on his arm as Ahsoka had instructed. Each day he grew to have more strength. Now he could doing almost everything with it including rest all of his weight on it as they flew through the air.

Kanan was watching with pride at the accomplishment of his student. Both of them had butted heads so many times in frustration but eventually would work things out. They're bond was stronger than ever and the friendship was deeply rooted as well. Kanan had tossed out the Jedi rule book a long time ago and did what he felt was right for the times they were in. He focused and did better when he had his family.

"Hey after this, can we land somewhere and get some food? Zeb ate the last of the food this morning." Ezra spoke with his eyes shut. Slowly the youth moved up to balancing on one finger.

"Sure, Hera said we needed to do a supply run." The adult waited a few more minutes before releasing his student.

Ezra flipped up and landed in front of his master smiling.

"Hey Kanan?" Kanan was already heading to go back inside but stopped and turned.

"Yeah kid?" Ezra was always asking questions just like him and now he was used to it and never annoyed.

"Thank you again for everything. I don't care what you or anyone else things. You're the greatest Jedi Master in the galaxy. Don't ever change." He smiled at his master.

"Same to you Ezra." The Jedi smiled down at his student.

For the moment, there was no danger, no threats and they were at peace. The two planned to enjoy it and bask in the moment as long as they could. Tomorrow was another day, but the Jedi knew they would be able to get through it as long as they were connected through the force and with their small makeshift family.

 ****Hope you enjoyed! Didn't want to do anything else big on this story incase I got any wild crazy ideas to do another sequel. It wouldn't be a trilogy if I did lol. I'm working on the next one, don't have a title yet but it might start up tonight if I'm persuaded by enough reviews :) Until next time!** ~Ocean**


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